One More Round
by MeredithBrody
Summary: A familiar face comes back from beyond the grave, throwing Erika into a miniature crisis. Latest in series.
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is set a few days after the end of "Ready and Willing". So we resume to Jon, Erika and Serena at their apartment, and everyone else being everywhere else. This story has 16 chapters.  
-Shin xx**

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**February 11th 2162**

Jonathan Archer had finally settled into the routine of being a family. He and Erika had taken a long time to get to this point, but given that he was home, and Serena was home, they had finally managed it. So he was running bath time while Erika tried to sort out bottles and bedclothes. He enjoyed that he was in charge of bath, which normally helped him relax after a long day, and it gave Erika a break from the baby after she spend all day with her. He was just about to get Serena out of her little bath when Erika came into the bathroom with a stack of towels and Serena's baby clothes. "Hey, was that the door?" She asked a second later, looking back to the main door.

"Yeah, want me to get it?" He asked, because quite often she would want to be polite to whoever was at the door, but they were both ready to go to bed and that would be very awkward while they were tired.

"No, you've got no shirt on." Erika kissed his cheek and smirked then looked away back toward the doorway. "Finish bathing her, I'll get the door."

"Mommy's in a good mood tonight Bun, what did you two do today." It wasn't unusual for her to be in a good mood, but it normally meant that she'd had a good day, and he didn't always know what she'd done to cause the day. "Don't tell me she went to work. I'll have to ban Captain Greenwood from letting her in the door." He kept speaking to the baby, almost certain that while he wouldn't be able to actually stop her going to work, he'd try at the very least.

"Jonathan!" Was shouted, and he wondered what had gone on that would require her to sound that distressed.

He looked over his shoulder toward where Erika had shouted him from. "I'll be there in a second, Rike. No don't kick any more water at me Bun." He snatched her out of the bath and shook his head, wrapping her up in a towel. He then dipped into Serena's bedroom and put her in the rocking crib that would keep her safe until one of them could put her to bed. "Here, you lay in here and dry off while I go see what your mommy needs." He then jogged back out to the living room with a smile. "Erika, what's the problem? Bunny once again kicked half a bath of water all over me."

She didn't look happy, and she didn't even smile at the mental image of Serena kicking water all over him. "We have a visitor, I need to put Bunny to bed." That was all she said, then she ducked back around him and headed into Serena's birthday.

"Hi, Jonathan." Came a voice, and he just stopped in his tracks. He hadn't expected who was there, and he wouldn't have believed that this was even possible. Veronica had died almost five years earlier. He'd been there the day she died, he'd attended her funeral. No wonder Erika had been distressed and in pain.

"Veronica, how is this...?" He started, then stopped when he realised there were no real words in the English language to ask someone why they were still alive. At least without it sounding like a threat, or asking why they weren't dead.

"You took my reappearance better than Erika did." Veronica commented, and for some reason that didn't surprise him. The stress of the last few months had really weighed on her, and she wouldn't have been able to hide her shock as well now as she would have been able to just a few months earlier.

"She's had a rough few months." He started, just wanting to defend Erika a little bit. It wasn't fair that after 5 years Veronica expect her friend to be exactly as she'd left. PTSD changed people more than anyone would expect. He still wanted t know how and why she was here. "How, _why_ are you here?"

Veronica looked exactly as awkward and uncomfortable as he would have expected. Given everything that was happening he didn't blame her. She would have to tell him a lot that probably she didn't want to go into. He had some idea of reasons why someone would have been dead during the war, none of them were confidence-inducing. "I don't know what I can tell you."

"I'm an admiral now, Veronica, my clearance goes as high as it can." He hoped that, maybe, this was a chance to offer her a friend to speak too as well. Just in case she needed it. It was quite likely that she needed that too.

"I can give you a slightly redacted version." She clearly wasn't sure about that, but whatever was going through her mind clearly meant that she was still loyal to her friends, the old guard of the NX Programme, and no doubt especially to his wife. "Then you can share with Erika what you think she needs to hear."

"Can we start with _why_ you're here rather than how?" That was absolutely where he needed to start. There was surely a lot of other people who she could have gone to, but she hadn't, she'd come here.

"My mom died, I learnt that a few weeks ago when I got back." That was not all that surprising, when officers returned the first thing they were told about was the family they'd left behind. "I've just been cut loose and released, so I came to see the only person, the only people, I have left. Erika and you." It was obvious that she truly believed that, she only had her old friends left, and really now she didn't even know if they were still friends. "I want to see Ruby and Andrea too eventually."

Jon was protective of Ruby and Andrea. They had lost AG, and then they'd felt like they'd lost several of their friends. They were no doubt not in a position to face this. "You should be gentle with them too. It's been a hard few months, since the end of the war."

"I can't imagine, who made it?" Veronica asked and Jon had to think, just for a few seconds, to decide which ship she meant. He figured he'd answer for both.

"Through the war?" He qualified, then shook his head and groaned as he thought who had made it through. Erika's ship and her crew hadn't fared well, which was the worst thing. Especially given how many had made it through on his crew. "On _Columbia_ only Kalil, Erika, Johanna and Kiona made it through from the senior staff, and Stuart Rivers. _Enterprise_ fared better, we only lost T'Pol." He missed T'Pol, even now, but he hadn't really lost anyone else he was close to. Not like Erika, who had lost almost her entire crew, and had then tried to stop getting close to her crew. From that moment on she just hadn't wanted to act the same.

"What else has changed here?" Veronica asked, clearly wanting to know about the people she knew here.

"Hoshi Sato has a daughter now, with Trip Tucker." He started with Toshiko Tucker. Of everything he could have started with, he started with Toshiko Tucker.

"Is that what all these toys are for?" Veronica asked, clearly looking around the room and noticing all of the baby toys and equipment that was there. He had never noticed how much they had accumulated over the last several weeks.

He looked around, and realised he hadn't actually said how old Toshiko was, which was no doubt why Veronica had assumed these were just for Tosh. Instead, he would get to break the news that he and Erika had started a family. "No, they are for ours."

"You and Erika have a baby?" Veronica asked, with a large smile on her face. Just a few weeks earlier he'd been talking with Erika about how Veronica would have been when she knew they had a child together. It was obvious she was exactly as excited about it as he'd thought she would be.

"We do, seven weeks old." He grinned, because he was proud of Serena, and the family they had begun together. He felt like it was probably time he tell Veronica where Erika had escaped to. "It's actually bedtime, that where Erika's gone."

"Really?" Veronica looked genuinely surprised and that, and in reality Jon couldn't blame her. Erika had never been very fond of children, and the mental image of her being the one taking the lead was something he'd had trouble picturing, even when she was pregnant. Now though, she was a natural.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" He smiled, nodding back toward the back of the apartment, where he was hoping Serena was asleep and Erika was just being calm.

"It is. Do you want to hear the story of how I'm here?" Veronica asked, trying to think of something else he could do.

He just looked at her, this time it was important because if she didn't really want to tell him, he didn't want to push her if he didn't need to. He wanted to let her know, and being the position he was he could probably look up if he needed too. "Do I need to know?"

"It might be better for you to know." Veronica looked at him honestly, and it was clear that she was conflicted about what she needed to do, but if she wanted to tell him. She just needed to be certain, and he wanted to push her to being sure.

"Are you certain?" He asked once again.

"Yeah, I trust you." That made him feel confident in her, even though after several years of her being away, maybe she wasn't thinking clearly, or maybe he was being ridiculous thinking that. "Jonathan, just promise me you'll make sure Erika knows it wasn't my idea. I didn't leave her by choice, but because I had to."

"I will. Now, tell me what happened." He sat back on the sofa and just looked at her seriously. He knew that Veronica would have never have left Erika, or _Columbia_, by choice. She had been completely dedicated to the ship, and to her Captain. The worry for him was about Erika, because with everything that had been going on recently she didn't need any additional stress. She would be better for having Veronica back in their lives, though, and he would be happy for that to change.


	2. Chapter 2

**I told you that I'd explain how Veronica came back! So, chapter 2. Erika admits to having hidden away from Veronica.  
-Shin xx**

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**February 11th 2162**

Erika had hidden back with Serena. The baby had not wanted to go to sleep, but probably more because she'd picked up on how agitated and afraid her mother was being. She danced around with the bottle she'd just made, trying desperately to distract herself, knowing that it probably wasn't worth getting herself worked up on. She had just been hit with all the terrible memories of the early years of the Romulans. When she'd finally got Serena off to sleep she went into the main bedroom, unsurprised to see Jon already in bed, writing some sort of report to Starfleet. "What did she want?"

"To talk to the only people she has left." Jon said, rolling his eyes slightly at her. She didn't blame him, because she was being more than a little too harsh on her friend. It was just still too surprising to know that Veronica wasn't actually dead. She was here, in San Francisco. Which led her to the next question she wondered about.

"Where has she been?" She managed to ask, and she thought she managed to say it as calmly as she could, but clearly she wasn't fooling Jonathan at all. She just struggled, right now, to believe any of it was going on.

"Are you actually going to listen." Jon asked, an edge to his voice that she wasn't used to hearing, which all just increased her utter panic about the situation.

"What?" She snapped, and Jon just stared at her until she stopped glaring at him angrily. It didn't really matter, probably, that she was angry right now. She was only angry because she was scared, and frightened, and a little out of sorts. She hated that she couldn't be happy her friend was back, or be glad that she was alive after all. Right now, her brain just wasn't going to let her.

"Erika, you are being a spitting cobra. Take a breath and be calm." He got out of the bed and tugged her into his arms. She suddenly felt a little more supported, a little safer. After a few minutes she started breathing deeper, and calming down. She hadn't even realised that she'd been panicking. "I'm not going to tell you unless you're going to listen."

She was surprised at that, and for some reason she'd assumed that if things were going on that she wasn't necessarily supposed to know then Jon wouldn't tell her. Or he wasn't supposed to. So far in their life that hadn't mattered, and if she'd needed to know he'd told her. "You're going to tell me?"

"She told me the whole story and asked me to tell you." That, for some reason, didn't surprise her. Veronica would know Jon would tell her if she needed to know. She knew them as well as anyone. "She knew you weren't in a position to listen to her."

"What happened?" She was now beginning to get to the point where it wouldn't even matter what it was. Would she stop being angry? She wasn't sure.

Jon was clearly in the same position, he didn't know whether she'd stop being angry, but at least he would try and make her think about the whole situation. He just kept her held against his chest. "Erika, you know she didn't pick to leave _Columbia_. Surely you knew that when she arrived at the door."

"I can't know that." She didn't know anything anymore. Had Veronica left by choice, or had she left by orders? It really didn't change it. She had still left, and she'd been away for years. She'd missed everything and Erika was holding that grudge, even though it was ridiculous.

"Yes you can." Jon scolded her gently then handed her the nightdress she'd been reaching for, tapping her nose lightly as he continued speaking. "She was your best friend, Erika."

"I know that, Jonathan, and she died and I mourned her and I moved on." She claimed that she'd moved on at least. He wasn't stupid though, and he knew that she hadn't ever really dealt with Veronica's death. He probably could imagine how she was feeling, like how he'd feel if suddenly everything that had happened since A.G.'s death was suddenly brought up again. Seeing Veronica had shot her straight back to the day she died, and the pain Erika had had to deal with ever since thinking her best friend had died on her watch. That was the thing that was hurting the most right now. "Seeing her again just took me back to that day, when Johanna told me she died."

"I'm sure. Look, she didn't leave _Columbia_ willingly. She was sent undercover." That was news, though she had got that from the context given in his previous answers. It still felt like she'd left her in the lurch, and that was hard. "She had knowledge that was helpful to Starfleet through the war, and it was used to keep the Romulans off track. She did what she had to do." She continued putting her nightdress on while Jon spoke, then as soon as she was done he stepped over her and kissed her forehead, clearly trying to push Erika past the part that she was freaking herself out. "The moment that she could come here and see you, she did. That says a lot, Erika."

She shook her head then pushed off and climbed into bed. "I loved her like a sister, and I am so afraid to let her in again, because I really can't get hurt again." That was the main point to her. She couldn't risk it, could she? She already had to go to counselling pretty regularly for the PTSD she was struggling with, the downside of living through the war and never really knowing how to get through it. That being so bad made her wary of getting hurt again. There were only three people who had never disappointed her, one of them was in this room so she was the only person . "The PTSD I have already is awful, and I can't put myself out there again."

Jon just shook his head, then climbed into the bed beside her. She was glad to keep talking about this for a long time, or just to go to sleep. Either would be find. As soon as he was settled he looked at her again seriously. "Erika. I'm with you, we're home, we have Serena. Everything is fine."

"Then why is she here?" That was probably a nasty way to phrase the question, and she did feel a little bad about that.

"Because you were her best friend too." Jon, of course, made her feel even worse about being so snappy. Only because he was completely right. Just as they were sitting there a screech from the other bedroom sounded. "She needs you, Rike. I'll get her."

"No, I will." Erika slipped out of the bed and went through to the nursery, then carried her back through to the bedroom, settling into the bed and gave her a cuddle. The two of them being happy just to be together as a family.

"Need I remind you of her middle name. Serena Veronica." That was the most annoying thing, she had missed Veronica every day, right up until tonight. That was probably all the problem, missing her friend no longer happened when her friend was there. "She was named for the woman who turned up on our doorstep today. You should, at least, give her a chance."

That, however, was going to be the winning point. which probably mattered, because Jon would have told Veronica that everything would be fine. She knew her husband that well. "You've already told her I will, haven't you?"

"I didn't tell her for 100% certainty that you would, but I said I'd try and push you to it. Because she does deserve it. She really took a risk coming here." That was true enough, she looked at him again and then just laughed, then looked at Serena. She already knew what Jon was going to add. "You want to introduce Serena to her aunt Veronica, don't you?"

"I do, I really do. I'm just scared." That was the long and short of her reaction. She would make sense of it in the end. Jon, clearly, wasn't at all bothered by her admission.

"Not really that surprising. Now, Rike, let me put her in bed, then we need to sleep, OK. Both of us." Jon picked Serena off, who had fallen back to sleep. Rather than taking her back to the nursery he put her in the basket then climbed back into the bed and kissed her shoulder.

"You're right, and I know it, but I still don't know what to do." She was going to be honest about it, because she truly missed Veronica, but didn't really know what to do.

"You'll figure it out, Rike. We will." He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt a little more safe. It was too hard for her to be in this situation, but knowing that Jonathan was sat there with her was definitely helpful, knowing that Serena was sleeping only a few steps away from her reminded her exactly why she needed to pull it together, and maybe after she slept she'd feel better.


	3. Chapter 3

**Jon tries to reassure Erika a little more.  
-Shin xx**

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**February 12th, 2162**

He'd had a busy day at work, and after speaking to Sam Gardner about Veronica's return to Earth, and their lives, all he'd wanted to do was get home and tell his wife that everything was fine. She might have tried to escape by this point. Sometimes when she was struggling with something she would hide away, so he was half expecting to get home and find a note saying she was in New Mexico while she thought of what to do next. Especially since he was so late returning home tonight, after having to finish off yet more certifications. "Erika, you home?"

"Where else would I be?" He heard shouted back, and he followed her voice through to the kitchen, where she was serving up take-out onto plates. She had been trying to learn to cook recently, but clearly tonight she'd given up. As for where she could be, there were a few answers to that.

"Hoshi's? Faisa's? Britain?" He rattled off, and Erika just turned on glared at him, not that he could entirely blame her. He was being pretty sarcastic for no real reason other than he could do.

After a few seconds her face split into a smile and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "Nah, I don't think I could cope without the extra two hours of sleep I get every morning when you and Bunny bond." That was pretty much all the time he had with Serena too. Those two hours in a morning before he went back to work.

It was only at that moment that he realised their daughter wasn't in the bouncer chair in the corner of the kitchen, and given there was none of the usual noises that accompanied the baby he figured she must already be in bed. "She's asleep early tonight?"

"I think Toshiko wore her out this afternoon." Erika commented, and Jon remembered that at the moment Tosh was coming to hang out with Erika when day care ended, which meant that she was here to play with Serena almost every afternoon.

"Toshie loves having a baby to play with, doesn't she?" He laughed, remembering Tosh's face that first night when she'd just sat in Erika's lap holding Serena. He'd come home apparently two hours into them all being sat that way talking. In the week since then Tosh had just fallen more and more in love with having a baby round, and everything that went into that.

"She does." Erika agreed with him, which actually made him feel happier about that impression. Given that he was normally the one who didn't notice these things, he was happy to know he was finally getting a feel for it.

"Did you think any more about Veronica?" He was going to give that a try, though he was more likely to get a smack from Erika for that. She had ducked this topic this morning, when they did their morning baby handover, then she'd ducked it again on lunch, when they'd met up for a meal, and so that Erika could pick up Toshiko. she clearly didn't want to talk about it, but that wasn't going to stop him.

"Jonathan." She scolded gently, and he realised that he wasn't going to win this easily. He still wanted to keep pushing her into talking about it.

"We have to talk about this, Rike, we do!" He pushed, because he knew it was important.

She clearly didn't like being told that. She was going to end up throwing one of these plates at him if he wasn't careful. He hoped that if he just treaded carefully now he'd be good. "Why do we? Why can't we just pretend nothing happened?"

He knew that was rhetorical, but right now he couldn't resist answering anyway. Wanting to tell her that he had so much that he needed to let her know, and work on other aspects of this situation. She didn't really want to ignore the situation, she just also didn't want to have to deal with it either. "Because you wouldn't want to do that, not really."

"Don't tell me what I would and wouldn't want. I am completely capable of telling myself that." She continued to snap at him, then put the two plates down on the table and turned to him angrily. "I want what I just said, to not talk."

"Erika, come on. Now you're being ridiculous." Again, not the best thing to say right now, but it was a thing to say, and it was also accurate, she was being completely ridiculous. Eventually she would need to get over this, because Veronica being back was going to work out well for both of them.

"Maybe I am, but I feel better for being ridiculous." She grumped, and he just stood staring at her. It was obvious she was beginning to realise she was getting over-involved in this, and she needed to take a very small step backwards and think. She closed her eyes, and Jon watched her run through the calming techniques she'd learnt years earlier, when she was calm again she looked at him seriously and tried to smile. "OK, I'm sorry. I just, don't know what I should do."

"How about you talk it over with one of your friends?" He asked, knowing that while he could say and do anything, to her sometimes it was easy to ignore because they were married. It wasn't that she ignored him, or didn't believe what he said. She just needed to hear it from someone she didn't sleep with.

"Who?" Erika asked, this time the accusations gone from her tone, she was genuinely curious who he thought she could talk to about this. When he didn't respond immediately she took a step closer and motioned out the window. "None of my friends are even anywhere near here."

"You are a captain, Kalil is a captain, Kiona is an XO." He mentioned the two who would most likely have the same reaction as Erika was having. Rivers would probably be happy and relieved to know Veronica was back, but there would be no feelings of betrayal. Erika needed support from someone who would hate everything about this situation too. "You should be able to talk to at least one of them and you don't know any details that are code word or higher." He then reached out and let her come to him.

She pressed into his chest, and he took that as an indication that she wanted a quick hug. It wasn't that often that she was the one who would instigate these embraces, but if she needed one he wasn't going to pull away. "You really think I should speak to them?"

"I do. I always advise you to do what I think is best." He felt bad that he was pushing her into facing this when maybe she wasn't ready. "Rike, you might think I'm pushing you, but really I just want you to be happy."

"I know, I just don't like being handled, you know that." He did know that, she hated feeling like she was being controlled. It was why she had so many citations for disorderly conduct. But while he knew that, it didn't stop him trying to handle her.

"Well, I remember that but I'm a slow learner." He was going to be honest, because it would work best for him, and for her. Lying and pretending that he had no problems with that was not fair to anyone, least of all her.

"The slowest." She laughed, shaking her head, then suddenly she pulled away and started searching through one of the drawers. "This reminds me though, I have something for you."

"What?" He asked, slightly worried about what she could possibly have for him.

"You've forgotten what day it is, haven't you?" She asked, looking at him seriously then sarcastically rolling her eyes.

That was worrying. What had he forgotten. Erika only got gifts for big reasons, and he was sure that he now remembered everything. He knew their first wedding anniversary was coming up though. "It's not our anniversary, is it?"

"No, stupid, that's the 15th." She rolled her eyes again and laughed, then handed him the package. The smile that spread across her face told him whatever she'd gotten was something she was proud to have bought. "Happy birthday Jonathan." He pulled the wrapping off and smiled, then opened the box. His jaw dropped when he looked at what was contained inside. It was a wrist chrono, which the _Enterprise_ inscription. "That was made from the shelves they took down in your ready room. So you can keep a bit of your ship always with you."

"This is amazing, thank you." He couldn't believe what just happened, and the present Erika had gotten him. She knew how to treat him, and unsurprisingly it made him feel even worse that he'd been so hard on her before.

"How does it feel, being 50?" She asked before long, both having sat down and starting eating silently. He was still just staring at the chrono and being in shock that he'd gotten through the whole day without anyone mentioning it.

"The same as being 49, I forgot it was my birthday." She was probably going to laugh at him for that, but he got a pleasant surprise in her just beginning to smirk widely.

"Well, I still have an idea for how we can celebrate the rest of tonight, after we eat, you'll need your strength." That was the kind of comment Erika made because she knew it would rev him up. So there was definitely something he was going to enjoy at the end of the night.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Truth be told, he already was.

"That's the whole idea." She smirked, and for some reason Erika sounded really excited to be able to do all of this. He couldn't believe he'd completely forgotten his birthday, especially given that it was his 50th. If he could get through tonight and make Erika accept that she actually needed to talk to Veronica it would be well worth it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Another old friend tries to give Erika the advice she needs to hear.  
Shin xx**

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**February 13th, 2162**

Erika had laid awake half the night thinking over what Jon had said. He had just pushed her a little to speak to Veronica, then had pushed her to talking to one of their friends if she wasn't ready to talk to her friend. Thinking about Veronica and how she felt completely confused and betrayed, there was only one person she wanted to speak to. While she was sure that Kalil would be able to convince her of something, Kiona would be a lot easier to talk to about all of it. So she put a personal call through to her office, almost certain that Madeline would be able to get her through to the shipboard officer. A second later the smiling face of her young assistant answered the comm. "Hey, Captain. You're looking amazing."

"Hey Madeline, can you get me a direct line to Commander Kiona Thayer?" It was mostly a rhetorical question. She knew that Madeline could easily get it all sorted and a call put through.

"Sure." Madeline grinned, already making a mark probably setting her PADD to search for Kiona's information. She then looked back at Erika and laughed. "When are you coming back to work? We all miss you." It was nice to hear, she had never been sure if her officers were actually happy to have her around. As for when she was going back to work, she was torn between 'right now' and 'never'. She had made plans, but right now that was it.

"I start doing half days at the end of March." She was looking forward to going back to work, but she was really enjoying being at home with Serena too. It was the conundrum that she was sure dozen if not hundreds of parents went through every day. So being home with Serena was good for her. "Still another six weeks at home with the baby."

"How long are you going to be doing half days?" Madeline grinned, but really that was undecided. She knew that Jon was leaving it all up to her, and for her it was going to be hard to decide. One day she would want to do full days and the next she'd want to stay home the whole time.

"Not sure, a few months most likely." She would probably keep going the way she planned, doing half days, until her maternity leave was over. "I still want to take as much time home as I can with Bunny. I'll be back, full time, next January at the latest."

"That's still 11 months away." Madeline complained, still smiling, and it was obvious at this point that she was just really trying to wind Erika up. She then nodded at Serena, and Erika remembered that Madeline had missed her the last day that she visited and took Serena. "She is really cute, you should bring her in to see us again."

"You'll be missing the peace and quiet when I get back." Erika laughed then kissed Serena's cheek, feeling rather cheerful about that. It was a nice distraction before she spoke to Kiona.

Madeline, this time, nodded then started looking serious, probably indicating that Kiona was a second away from connecting to who she needed to speak to. "Maybe, Captain. So, Kiona Thayer?"

"Yes please." She smiled, and didn't need to thank Madeline, she knew that she should but she also hoped that Madeline knew there were thanks.

"Just a minute." Came the reply, and it was clear that there was an understanding.

Almost the second sound stopped, Serena started grumbling and Erika had to try and calm the grumbling baby. "Oh, hey. Bunny. Come on you need to be quiet." She almost begged, really needing Serena to be quiet so she and Kiona could talk about this whole situation and everything else they needed to do. "Mommy needs to talk to aunt Kiona before she goes nuts."

"Before?" Came a voice, and Erika looked up to see Kiona giggling on the screen. Erika just rolled her eyes, completely unsurprised about the way she was being teased by her friend.

"Hey." She turned and smiled, and as soon as Serena saw the light changes she seemed to settle down and stop crying. That was exactly what Erika had needed, and now she was glad that her friend had answered when she did. "I didn't hear you come on."

"You were talking to the baby, I didn't want to interrupt." Kiona at least looked like she really had been thinking that that was the best thing for them, and maybe her friend had actually enjoyed watching her dealing with the baby. She knew too many of them were still surprised she'd had a baby, let alone that she could actually speak to her and deal with her. Clearly then it was obvious Kiona was thinking about what Erika was doing. "You haven't called me while I've been star-side in... Ever. You have never called me when I've been star-side. Who died?"

"Nobody died. That's a morbid way of looking at life." She couldn't believe that the first thought there was that someone had died. At least she could say it was the opposite of that, someone was alive.

"I'm a morbid living person." There was something about the way that Kiona said that which caused Erika to laugh really loudly.

"Goddammit Kiona." She burst out laughing, unable to believe that her friend had managed to make being morbid into a joke. It was probably something that they had developed during the war, everything had been morbid then. That was probably going to make this all even harder.

"So why are you calling me?" She asked eventually and looked through the screen and across the light-years seriously, studying Erika intensely. She wondered if Kiona was trying to figure out what was going on, she was never going to guess it. Asking why she was calling was fair, if a little sarcastic.

Erika rolled her eyes and desperately tried to think of anything else she could say, but suddenly it became obvious that there was no other small talk that she could start before she said anything else. "You're sat down, right?"

"Yeah, I am." Kiona looked confused, which was somewhat unsurprising. If someone had called Erika, tried playing it all cool then asked if they were sitting down she'd be confused too. Either she was about to be told someone was pregnant, or someone was dead. This case was even stranger, because it was something that nobody would really believe was a real thing.

She tried to think of a way to say what was going on seriously, but for some reason there was no easy, obvious way coming to her mind for it. She was just going to have to be blunt and say it. In as few words as possible. "Veronica's back."

"No, Erika. Veronica died. Five years ago." The sarcasm in Kiona's voice could have powered the fleet for a year if they could harness it. There was definitely something that had drawn _Columbia_'s crew together, and almost all of it included sarcasm and a blunt honesty.

"Kiona, she was in my living room, day before yesterday." She had avoided thinking about it yesterday, right up until Jon had come home and made her think about it. Avoidance would be the Olympic sport she excelled at, if it was an Olympic sport. "She told Jon the whole sorry story and he told me bits of it."

"Why didn't she tell you?" Kiona asked aggressively, and Erika had to admit that that wasn't Veronica's fault. That was all on her. She'd been the one who had escaped.

"I walked away, I couldn't deal with it and Jon kinda took the bullet for me." She hadn't tried at all, she'd just escaped to Serena's bedroom and cuddled up with her daughter and tried to pretend nothing was going on. "She was apparently ordered under-cover during the war."

"Really? She was really there?" The shock on Kiona's face made it obvious that she hadn't expected anything of the sort. It was probably killing her just a little, the same as it had been Erika when she'd turned up.

"I know, I couldn't really believe it either, and now I don't know what to do." She hadn't been able to decide whether this situation was actually real. "I loved her so much, she was my best friend, but what am I supposed to do?"

Kiona looked seriously and shook and her head. "Erika, whatever you do is going to be what's best. She was our friend, she died, we mourned her." Kiona echoed some of what she'd said to Jon the other night. So it was nice to know that it was a common thought. "If she showed up on my doorstep I'd probably have punched her in the face and shouted 'zombie'. But you're clearer headed than me."

"So I should let her have a chance?" Erika asked, and there was a lot in that question, all of it hard to answer, and not exactly what she wanted to have to think about. She already knew what she wanted to do, but was that really the best idea?

"Why not?" That was a question that Erika wasn't sure she knew how to answer. "It's a chance, not like you're saying that she's automatically your best friend again."

"You're probably right." She admitted, hating that she even needed to think about this. A few years ago she would have begged for Veronica to be back in her life, now though, she really didn't know what to do.

"I'm due back next week, I'll come catch up with you." That was going to help her out too. Because seeing Kiona and introducing her to Serena was going to be a great thing. Especially in light of all this. "Plus I want to meet Bunny. See you next week, then you can tell me how it goes."

"Fine, you win. I'll do that." It was that moment when she realised that there was an awful smell permeating the room, probably telling her that Serena needed changing and bathing. "I should go change her actually. Say goodbye Bun."

"Bye Bunny." Kiona waved. "Bye to you too, mommy." She looked back up to Erika then smiled and ended the comm. Erika then just rocked the baby in the living room and shook her head. She still wasn't sure that letting Veronica in at all was a good choice, but Kiona was on the opposite side of this whole debate than Jonathan, and both had told her to give it a go. Maybe she was just too close to this right now. Having Veronica back in her life was no doubt going to make things better for her, and she would be happy to have her best friend back, but right now it was hard to accept.


	5. Chapter 5

**While Erika confides in Kiona, Jon confides in Hoshi.  
Shin xx**

* * *

**February 13th, 2162**

Getting out of the house this morning had, for the first time he could remember, been a relief. Last night he and Erika had had a great time once they'd stopped talking about Veronica, but he knew it was playing on her mind, and he'd noticed that she'd barely slept. She had been asleep when he'd finally got up to deal with Serena, but the rest of the end she'd been tossing and turning. So this morning he'd thrown himself into his work, determined to keep himself from thinking too much about the situation at home. Now he was in the cafeteria, and he couldn't distract himself with anything, so he was eating and thinking and doing very little else. "You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, Jon." He heard, and he had no idea how long he'd been sat there staring into space, other than that his coffee was now cold, and his meal fully eaten. Hoshi Sato was stood beside his table, looking at him with a level of concern he wasn't used to seeing anymore. "What's going on?"

"Oh just stupid stuff, you know how it goes sometimes." He was suddenly hesitant to mention what was going on at home, even with someone he considered to be basically one of his closest friends. Maybe it was the knowledge that Veronica had been one of Erika's closest friends, but he suddenly didn't want to confide in anyone.

"That's a first." Hoshi replied, then slipped into the seat opposite him almost silently. That was a reminder that Hoshi could easily have snuck up on him rather than drawing his attention to her presence. It was quite obvious that she was worried about what she'd just witnessed, which maybe should concern him too. "You've never dodged me that quickly before."

"Sorry, I'm just worried and confused and maybe a little scared." He admitted a few seconds later. The difference between the usual Erika he saw, and who she'd been the last couple of days had him worried. He hoped tonight she'd talk to one of her friends, She would listen to her friends more than she would him right now.

Clearly that worried Hoshi more, and a small note of panic flashed over her face before she looked at him seriously. "Is everything alright with Bunny?" She asked, and he nodded, this time splitting into a genuine smile. There were plenty of things to be worried about, but Serena wasn't one of them. She was still doing as amazingly as she had been since birth.

"She's great, really great." He actually felt a little bad for phrasing things in such a way that he'd worried his friend. She didn't need his scared hyperbole right now, nobody did, and he should continue pointing out how well Serena was doing, then maybe nobody would ask him what he was actually afraid of. "She's seven weeks old now you know."

"Then what?" Hoshi pushed again, and he realised that even though he wanted to tell her, to be able to speak out about what was playing on his mind, he also knew he couldn't in public. He could in his own office, so if she had time to swing by he could bring her inside, maybe not all the way, but enough that he could express his fear to someone.

"Are you teaching this afternoon?" That was the important thing. If she wasn't he would invite her to his office, and would then unload on her in a possibly slightly unhealthy way. If she was he would order her to his office and do the same thing, it actually wouldn't change his course of action at all.

Hoshi, however, shook her head and smiled slightly, clearly realising that Jonathan actually needed her to be available for him. "No, it's a paperwork and planning day." Whether she was speaking the truth of not it wasn't his place to say, but he was grateful either way and was almost certain that he wasn't going to need to say anything special in thanks. "What's wrong?"

"My office, in fifteen minutes. I can't talk about it in public." He thought that telling her that part would let her know she was being brought inside something that was important not only to him but to Starfleet security.

"Alright, I'll be there." Hoshi smiled, then stood up with her sandwich and went on her way, leaving Jon once again with his maudlin, worried thoughts. When he finally gave up on willing his drink back to being hot he stood up and took the slow walk to his office, still ruminating on what was going on at home, and between Erika and Veronica, and no doubt by this point Kalil or Kiona. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Erika would call. Without Veronica, Kiona was probably Erika's best friend, and Kalil was up there too. When he reached his office he slipped onto his chair and went back to staring into the middle distance, just trying to work things out. "Jon, you here?" Was shouted a few minutes later, and he brought himself back to the current place and time.

"I am, come on in. Kit is at lunch still." He motioned back toward the door and smiled as Hoshi shut it behind her. As soon as she was in he nodded to one of the other chairs, and he hoped that that was enough for her. He was sure it would be, but he still needed to make sure she understood.

"That explains why she's not out there." Hoshi eventually muttered, still talking about Kit. Jon's mind had already moved on, so he just made a non-committal noise, then sat back in his seat, forgetting where he was going to start. "OK, now are you planning to tell me what's going on?"

There was only really one way to answer that question, and that was to be as brutally blunt as he'd thought to be originally. Anything else would be sugar coating it, and his friend was more intelligent than that. "Two days ago, Veronica turned up on my doorstep."

Hoshi's face dropped to what he imagined his had done when he'd noticed Veronica in his living room. He still struggled to believe it had actually happened and he'd been there, talking to her. He couldn't, therefore, blame Hoshi for looking like she'd been slapped across the face. "What?"

"Veronica Fletcher, Erika's first XO." He felt the need to explain it, even though he was certain that she hadn't just completely forgotten her. While the old _Columbia_ and _Enterprise_ crews hadn't been completely close, they all had known each other well enough to recognise the name of a fallen comrade. "She was a friend back on the NX programme."

"Yeah, I know her, how can she be back? She's dead, I remember that. I remember seeing Erika after Veronica's death. You don't just come back from that." That was true, and Erika wasn't coming back from that. Veronica, however, was very much alive and not hiding away from the universe like he probably would have done had he have been in her situation. She was trying to reconnect with her friends and family. That was something super important, and he was actually proud of her for doing it.

"Well, you do if your death was staged for an undercover operation." He gave Hoshi the information without giving her all of the details. He knew that he couldn't tell her everything, he couldn't even tell Erika everything, or he could.

"Is that what happened?" Hoshi asked, quietly, seeming to understand a little more.

"Yes. I told Erika what she needed to know to accept it. I don't think I did it very well though because she's not accepted it at all." He knew that Erika was trying, or was at least thinking about it all. He could understand though, if it was T'Pol who came back he'd probably be feeling the same. Hoshi needed to know a little more to explain why Erika was struggling so much, and why he felt that Erika needed to start moving it on. "Veronica was ordered off of _Columbia_, and she had to go to Romulus. She cut off everyone and everything from that point on. All her friends, her own family. Her mother died, thinking her daughter was dead. Her friends moved on without her." That was the worst feeling in the universe, and she deserved the break that would come with being forgiven. "Can you imagine if you came back and discovered that everything had changed?"

"Not really, but I can't imagine being ordered into that situation to begin with." Well, that was also true again. Maybe they didn't have the expertise needed, or they hadn't ever been in the right place at the right time. He couldn't imagine this.

"Me either, but she had a lot she needed to do and she did her duty to Earth too." He accepted that she'd done her duty, but the effect it was having on Erika was what she was worried about most. "But her reappearance has terrified Erika."

Hoshi looked a little more bothered about that than anything else he'd told her all day. "I can't imagine Erika being scared of anything. She's always faced everything head on, from the Orions to the Romulans to Serena's birth." That was true too. Erika had never been outwardly afraid of anything in the twenty years he'd known her.

"Honestly, she's always been fearless, which is probably why I'm so afraid too." He had to admit, knowing that Erika was afraid really terrified him. She had never been scared, but looking at Erika right now he had no idea how to help. Hoshi would be able to tell him how to help her, he was sure of that. "When I struggled, she was always the one who would pick me up and tell me that everything was OK, and that nothing was going to get me down. I have no idea how to return that favour, and I doubt I ever will."

"Just be there for her Jonathan." That seemed generic, but as he sat and thought about it, Hoshi continued, giving him the advice, and the pep talk, he'd desperately needed. "She's your wife, and you and her have been through absolutely everything together, you'll figure it out. What actually happened with Veronica?"

Well, that was a story for the ages, wasn't it. "Erika froze, she went and hid away putting Serena to bed, but I'm not entirely sure if Veronica would have told her the whole story anyway." Hoshi looked as if she was about to interrupt, so he held his hand up and carried on speaking, hoping to tell her that Veronica wasn't going to hide anything on purpose, that it was all just the way it had gone. "She had concerns about security clearance. Which obviously she could tell me fine, and then anything I told Erika is covered under spousal privilege. Sometimes, the legal system works in our favour."

"Good to know, isn't it. Just let Erika figure it out for herself Jon, she and Veronica will work it out because they were best friends." That was probably true, and they had been friends for a very long time. More than ten years. "It might take time, and you need to just be there. If you two need any babysitting help, shout me, I'll sit with Serena."

"Thanks, that's appreciated." It was, he was proud, and very happy, that he had a friend he could turn to whenever he needed help about anything. If he couldn't talk to Erika about something, Hoshi was a good next choice. "And thank you for giving me the chance to talk about it."

"What are friends for, huh? Call me over, if you need to talk anymore." Hoshi grinned and stepped up to the door. Jon just ended up sitting back in his chair after she left and thinking about both his wife and her former best friend. He was sure that Hoshi was right, that they would do well in time. He really just needed for them all to work out better and soon, because he was really worried about Erika and the situation they'd been put into. Veronica was coming for dinner on Valentine's Day, when better for them to try and make up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Erika finally lets Veronica in a little, and they have dinner.  
Shin xx**

* * *

**February 14th, 2162**

It had been a long day, and Erika had spent most of the day trying to clean up the apartment. She and Serena had been hanging around having a lot of fun, which hadn't really contributed to cleaning the apartment. Now that Jonathan was home that was all she'd done. She'd left him cooking and playing with the baby in the kitchen, while she cleaned everywhere else, and it had been in desperate need. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jon wrapped a spare arm around her and kissed her neck before he spoke. "Are you ready for this?"

"Not even close." She really wasn't, meeting up with Veronica was already boggling her mind, but she would keep trying as much as could. Since she knew Jon was going to take Serena out for a while, she could focus on their thoughts than on what he wanted to do. It would be a lot easier, and simpler. "What are you and Bunny doing tonight?"

"Don't worry about Bunny tonight." That was going to be easier said than done. She worried about Serena when she was holding her. It seemed to be her latest set worry, that something would bother Serena's immune system. "We'll be perfectly fine with Hoshi. Tonight it's about you and Veronica talking." Jon knew what she was trying to do, and switched it back round to him.

"I'm not sure if I can do this Jon." She admitted a few minutes later, taking Serena out of her bouncer chair and wrapping her up into the snowsuit she hoped would keep her nice and warm. She wasn't sure how she would do sitting in a room with Veronica until she was too tired to think about anything would help them get used to anything.

It was worth it, she knew that much. She needed to give it a chance, and she needed to let Veronica show her that things were happening for a good reason, and that she could be trusted again. Erika just needed time. Jon knew this, and that was why he was pushing her to do this. "You can do this, I'm going to be at Hoshi's, she's having a bad night. Trip was due home but they've been delayed."

"Poor Hoshi." Erika remembered how hard it had been whenever Jon had missed meetings and days they started talking about everything but they hadn't been together. There was nothing worse than being in a Starfleet relationship, it was why she was actually glad she and Jon were now based on Earth. "Don't be too long"

"Of course not." Jon confirmed and kissed her hard, then picked up Serena off her and laughed. "You'll not miss us, I swear." He laughed, then shook his head, the doorbell going just as he did. "Showtime"

"Blech." She made a sound and grumbled, not at all happy, but eventually she was sure that things would make more sense. She'd learn eventually and that would be the best for all involved her right now.

"Come on up." Jon said into the receiver, and then turned to her and looked as though his eyes were going to roll out of his head. That was exactly what he needed to do, and what she needed from him. He was clearly judging her. "Hey, you can at least not act like a child." He pointed out, but she wasn't really feeling like accepting that maybe she was being childish.

"Maybe I am a child." She replied, and that was all she needed to say, to act as though she was a child, and no doubt a very young child at that.

"You're a 46 year old mother and Starfleet Captain." Jon made a very good point, she was a mother, a captain, and technically was forty-six. Right now she felt like being childish, and it wasn't really going to make her change her mind. "If you're a child as well I'm fairly sure I'd be arrested." He continued with a smirk, and at that moment the buzzer for the front door of the building sounded, reminding her that they actually had company arriving.

"Screw you Jonathan." She said eventually, it being the only thing that came to her mind when he was being completely filthy and not letting her mope and complain like she had every right to do. She really wanted to mope and complain right now too, only Jon kept making her laugh. Probably to put her in the right mood for this dinner.

"Hi, come on up." He spoke into the receiver then turned and looked back at her seriously, before he broke into one of the largest, craftiest smirks she'd ever seen cross his face. "Screwing me can wait until tonight, you have other things to do."

For just a moment she was completely taken aback by that comment, mostly because it was the last thing she'd expected him to say, he was midway through opening the door before she had it in her mind to say something to him. "Jonathan! You know there are some things that really can stay unspoken." She hoped it made him realised she wasn't in the mood for his flirting.

"Am I interrupting something?" Veronica asked, walking through the door properly. It didn't really need repeating to anyone.

"Just my husband being a doof." She commented and shook her head. She hoped that it would convince Veronica not to ask. She really didn't want to explain the conversation she'd just been having. Nobody needed to know about that.

"I love you too, Erika." Jon smirked, then leant down and kissed her hard before pressing his forehead against hers. "We'll see you later." He spoke for Serena too, she was sure, and that made her happier than she would have thought.

"Forgive him, he's an asshole and has been trying to wind me up this evening." Erika shrugged then motioned to the table.

Veronica must have remembered something about their lives before all of this, as there was a knowing smirk on her face, and it was plainly obvious that Veronica knew better than to ask. "Nothing unusual then. How are you today?"

"Tired, Bunny's still not sleeping through the night." It still amazed Erika that they even had to struggle with any of this. That she had to get used to Serena not sleeping through the night. Or having to deal with keeping her happy and entertained. "We've only had her home a couple of weeks."

"Jon said she was 7 weeks old." Veronica smiled, looking at the pictures dotted around the room. It was quite amazing how quickly Serena's image had taken over their apartment. There were dozens, if not a hundred or so pictures of the baby all over the place. Which was exactly what she'd also never imagined.

"She was born a few weeks early, on Christmas Eve." At least she was never going to forget her daughter's birthday. She barely ever forget birthday's, or anniversaries, or any other special day. They all seemed to be hardwired into her brain. The problem with Serena being born so early was how long it had taken to get her home. "She was in hospital until the end of January. She's settling in now, and we're getting more used to having her here. It's a big change."

"I can imagine." Veronica, it was clear, knew all about what Erika was saying. Maybe not through the experience, but definitely through what she probably remembered of Erika's life. She had never been good at hiding the things he was struggling with. "I remember when you were first trying. That day in the shopping centre where I was teasing you."

"And you wouldn't shut up about being godmother." Erika suddenly remembered, seeing what they were doing in her mind's eye. Both wearing their uniforms so were being given a wide berth by all around them.

"It was my reward for keeping it quiet!" Veronica laughed, and Erika had to join in. It was a good memory, before the miscarriage, before she and Jon had separated. Before the Xindi or the Romulans. Back then they had been the explorers, the ones looking forward. Sometimes Erika thought that had been beaten out of them by all they had endured since. At least Veronica seemed to be coming back into herself. "That was what. 10 years ago?"

"More like 15." She had to work it out. It had been a year before Jon's announcement, and a few months before the miscarriage, so it was in '48. "2148, so 14 years ago."

"I know that things changed while I was gone, but I'd love to hear about everyone, Kalil and Kiona and Johanna." Veronica trailed off, and Erika knew what she was going to say. Jon had told her that he said who had made it through the war. Not many of them. "I heard about Reiko, and Sidra."

"Coridan was hard for _Columbia_. The war was pretty hard for _Columbia_ actually. We made it through though." That was her crowning, glorious achievement. They'd made it through.

"Oh god. I'm so sorry Erika. I didn't want to leave." The earnestness in Veronica's face as she sat down made Erika forgive her instantly. She hadn't planned on that, but it was obvious that Veronica was torn up about missing the war, and not being able to help the crew she'd sworn a loyalty too. While Erika forgave that, she was sure she was ready to just forget it quite yet either. "What about everyone else?"

"It's OK. Kalil has his own ship now, and he won't let anyone forget it. Kiona is an XO. I actually called her earlier to talk about this. She was less than impressed."

"She always did have a clear sense of right and wrong." That was true enough. Erika hadn't hired Kiona to be easily swayed. Everything was black and white to the Canadian, and that had fit in well with _Columbia_'s crew and what Erika had needed in her tactical officer. Even now she loved Kiona's bluntness, she had missed Veronica's strand of the same trait too. "I guess this didn't sit happily with her."

"She said that if you'd turned up on her doorstep she would have punched you in the face and shouted about you being a zombie." One of the better outcomes of her conversation the day before was that comment by her friend.

"I need to see Kiona now. Just for that reaction." That would be one of the funniest things Erika would see for a very long time, so she thought that it would probably be worth it.

Erika burst out laughing, purely because the mental image of exactly what Kiona would do if she saw Veronica right now was absolutely hilarious. It may have been meant as a joke, but Erika was sure that Kiona's 'punch' was actually a joke. "Just make sure I'm there. You should know, Jon cooked. He doesn't trust me in the kitchen, I'm the baby feeding trough, but she's getting used to it and Jon's becoming a good cook."

"I'm so proud to see how much you've changed and gained." That was a sweet sentiment, and really Erika was sorry that she couldn't return it. She still knew nothing about Veronica's life, or what she'd been doing for the last few years. It was obvious that Veronica wasn't done, and she continued, this time clearly making sure that Erika was alright. "I'm glad you're happy, E, you are happy right?"

"Yeah. I'm happy. Really happy." She was happy. Her daughter was perfect, and her husband was doing everything and anything he could do to help her. "I know I'm being a pain in the ass with still hiding myself away, but I've had such a large amount of crap going on recently that I need to work through it slowly." She had been trying to work through it already, mostly on her own. Now she needed to focus on getting it on with everyone else.

"Take your time. Now just tell me all the gossip." Veronica smiled, clearly understanding why Erika needed some time. It was terrifying, for her, to even be thinking of opening up again, but this conversation so far had reminded her exactly why they'd been friends to begin with. It was easy, simple conversation, and she didn't feel terrible right now. That was a plus point, and she hoped to tell Jon that she'd made a decision by the time he got home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Jon takes the time while Erika and Veronica have dinner to get advice from a couple friends.  
Shin xx**

* * *

**February 14th, 2162**

He had left Erika alone with Veronica, and somewhat unsurprisingly he was now spending the entire evening worrying about whether or not he had done the right thing in pushing her. He was sure that Veronica would be trying to do anything to help Erika come to terms with everything. Because he was struggling with this, he'd come to the only person he could depend on. The only problem with that was he had died 9 years ago. He was supposed to be at Hoshi's, but he'd come to see A.G hoping that his friend could still give him some hope. When he reached A.G.'s grave he sat down, taking Serena out of her pram and smiled, resting her on his knee. "I'm supposed to be at Hoshi's, but I thought I'd take a detour here and introduce you to my daughter." He spoke to the headstone, and held Serena up on his knee.

As he did that, he realised everything that A.G. had pushed him toward staying with Erika way back at the end of the NX programme, while the two of them had been content to separate and hope they'd meet again. A.G. had known them better than that. "It's been a hell of a long time coming, I know, you wanted Erika and I to stay together all those years ago." He had told A.G. all about his and Erika's life together, now this was the next part of it, and he needed to tell him about it too. "Now we're happy, both of us."

He held Serena up again and kissed her cheek. "This is Serena. Serena Veronica Archer." He introduced her laughing loudly as he did. Serena, according to everyone they knew, looked just like him. He saw more Erika in her though, she had Erika's eyes, and her temperament. Not that Erika would ever admit that. "I begged Erika to include Hernandez in her name, but she didn't like how it sounded. She picked her first name, and her middle name." He had been happy to let Erika pick her name too. It had meant so much to her. If they had a boy he'd picked the name. There was still a chance of that, maybe. It was too soon to tell.

Thinking about Serena's name reminded him of the dinner that was going on again at home, and everything that was probably going to come out in this conversation. "Well, her middle name is a long story. Veronica." Her sighed, looking at the headstone seriously then grinned. "You see. We all thought that Veronica died during the war. For the last five years, almost, Erika has mourned her best friend. We all mourned her." Every single one of them had mourned him. From Erika down to little Sidra Valerian, who had been lost a few years later.

He stopped, looking at Serena, then frowned. "A few days ago, she turned up at our place. Mine and Erika's." He clarified, and he probably should have said that. "It turns out, she'd been undercover through the war, hard to believe but it's what happened." That was definitely a good thing for the two of them, because they'd get their friend back, but it was going to take him a long time to be used to this, and it was going to take her even longer to accept it. Especially given the way that Erika had reacted originally. "Erika didn't react well, she shut down pretty well."

"During the war, she ended up with PTSD, worse even than I had it." He had thought he was struggling. Then he'd been called to her sat in the dark not wanting to interact with anyone. That's when he'd realised he'd been ignoring her symptoms because he'd been too afraid to face that she was struggling too. "That wasn't easy for me to admit to that, because she was always the strong one." He admitted, to both A.G. and to his daughter. Serena deserved to know that her mother had suffered because he hadn't wanted to admit it. "She is doing a lot better, now, but I could see how scared Veronica's return made her." Erika had been terrified, and that was most of why she had struggled to even speak about it since.

So tonight was going to be important for them both, and he was sure that it was going to be something she would be thankful for eventually. Maybe not today, or even soon, but she would be thankful. Now he was mostly just talking to himself, getting it all out in the open. Serena and A.G. were really just his audience to let him speak. "They are having dinner tonight, though. She wasn't looking forward to it but I think it will be good for her. I just worry that I pushed her too far, too fast." That was his one worry, he was terrified that she was going to regress to being the broken, scared person that she'd been 3 years earlier.

"I'm sure I didn't, and I know you'd tell me that if you could." That was also true. Erika had never let anyone push her too far, she would have rebelled if he had and A.G. would have told him that too. "I guess I'm just here to talk, just talking aloud." He shrugged, letting that certainty settle on him. Even if it wouldn't matter.

"I would go on, but I think you must be fed up of my voice right now. I can see Serena giving me a look like 'come on dad, you're being stupid now. Mom'll be fine'. She believes in her mom, just like the rest of us should."

"Well, now you've met my little miracle, so I'll get on to where I'm meant to go." He stood up, putting a now grumbling Serena back into the pram, almost certain that she wouldn't settle down any time soon. It was going to be a very long few days. "See you soon, A.G." He tapped a hand on the headstone, just like he'd done a dozen times before.

He then turned away and walked to Hoshi's place. Serena grumbling and crying in the pram all the way there. Almost the second he knocked on the door Hoshi was right there, and it was obviously she was angry. "You're late, I expected you here ages ago."

"I stopped by the cemetery, I wanted to talk to A.G." He smiled, and a second later Hoshi was nodding understandingly. They probably both had more than one friend they wished they could speak to again, and instead had to speak to the headstone of a grave. Hoshi was the only other person on Earth who would tell him to stop being an asshole. "Be sure that I'm convincing Erika to do the right thing."

"You are, Jonathan. You're definitely doing the right thing." Hoshi did exactly what he expected, and he was very, very glad that she did. He'd needed to hear it from someone else, someone other than his own mind.

"I know that, I just don't feel like I am sometimes." He hated that he felt like he wasn't doing the right thing. Jon knew that there were plenty of things that he could do right. Probably even that he _was_ doing right, but right now he couldn't believe that, only because Erika's sadness and indecision always made him afraid..

"That's understandable, but you and Erika are strong, and she'll get through this with your help." That was true as well, but he really hoped that she was right. That he and Erika would figured everything out. They had been doing well. "You'll go home later, and hope to find your wife happy having reconnected with her friend."

"Would you be happy, if it was T'Pol?" He asked, it was both completely out of the blue and also something he'd been wondering for a while. He hoped that maybe Hoshi would be able to give him some sort of insight into what other people would do.

"In the same situation?" So apparently he hadn't been completely obvious.

"Yeah."

"Probably, but I'd also be angry, and betrayed, and sad. It's natural, Jon." Hoshi had clearly thought it through. Maybe since he'd told her, maybe it was just something that had crossed her mind. He needed to think how he felt about Veronica's return, rather than continuing to just deal with Erika's feelings.

"Thanks, here you go. You can watch her for a moment." Jon handed the now clean Serena to Hoshi and smiled. It had taken a very long time for her to stop crying, today for some reason she wouldn't settle. She'd been having trouble settling for the last couple of days. Probably because Erika had been so on edge, the baby, no doubt, was picking up on that problem and struggling. Maybe by the end of the night she would be able to settle more, because Erika might have this all sorted. That would be the important thing. Hoshi was telling him exactly what his best friend would have told him, if he'd been alive. Wasn't that exactly what he'd been saying himself at the cemetery. He needed to listen.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thinking apparently did Erika a world of good.  
Shin xx**

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**February 14th, 2162**

Erika had been sitting around since Veronica had left, which was actually the best idea she had had in a while. It was quite nice to be sat around without having to get up to deal with a screaming baby or a grumpy husband. Especially as it gave her time to catch up on the news and on the few reports she still got from her team at Starfleet. She was still laid on the sofa thinking when she heard the door, and saw Jon pushing the pram back through the door. Despite how much she'd been enjoying being laid there alone and quiet, she was really happy to know that they were home, so she got up and met him at the doorway, stepping onto her tiptoes she kissed Jon, then picked up Serena. "Hey, I missed you guys."

"How did it go?" Jon asked, giving her a quick squeeze then letting her go. She smiled and walked over to the sofa, taking Serena's snowsuit off while she thought about how she was going to answer Jon's question.

"Fine, not too badly." She answered, picking Serena up and smirked. Though a moment later she regretted that when she noticed that there was an awful smell. Meaning she was going to have to explain while changing a diaper, something she actually wasn't all that good at doing. "We spoke, mostly about old times. She reminded me why we were friends to begin with." She had loved that that had come up, and that there had been so much going on where she was reminded that they had once told each other everything. Erika had been there through bad break-ups and the distress that came with it, while Veronica had been there through her separation, their reunion. Everything that had been a problem.

"That's good, made a decision?" There was a little too much in that question, but she didn't immediately jump into being worried about his question. She could be honest about how she felt, but she hadn't made a decision yet, not for certain anyway. She had ideas, and she wanted for them to eventually say that was the best way for them to go.

"Not just yet." She was once again honest, because the only times she'd ever hidden anything from him she'd ended up suffering more for it. In the end she wanted to spend as much time as she could just working on the bigger problems they were both facing. "But I'm on my way there, for better or worse."

Jon slipped onto the sofa beside her and shook his head gently, probably at the way she was talking. She was always trying to think of the best way to do something, and way they would do it. Jon would just want her to do everything that she needed to do between now and when she made an actual choice about Veronica, and about their friendship. "That's good." He was clearly thinking of what mattered to her. "You two had a great time, and made a great friendship."

"I'm not sure though, Jonathan." It was all just playing on her mind, mostly because she still wasn't entirely sure that she was making the best decision for her. At least not right now. All she knew was that it mattered a lot that she give Veronica the chance. After more than 15 years since they'd met she deserved that at least. "Am I really making the right choice?" She asked, because he was going to be the one who knew what would affect her the most.

Jon, clearly, had been expecting that question. Either that or maybe he'd just been thinking about it in general. It wouldn't surprise her entirely if he'd just been thinking about it. He had that kind of a brain. "I think so."

"Really?" She still had to ask, only because it meant that she really was making the best decision, or the right decision.

"Yeah. Rike, Veronica was your best friend forever, and you and her never let anything come between you before now." That was probably one of the truest things that Jonathan had said about them, and she'd been trying forever to put that in words for herself. She still loved Veronica like a sister, but she needed to work through things. "She has literally been the person you went to for everything for as long as I can remember." That was probably not the fairest thing to say. She had always told him everything too.

"I went to you a lot too?" She phrased it as a question, not just a comment. It was a bit of both though, because she had gone to Veronica a lot to, she knew that. She didn't know which one of the two she went to more.

"Not the same as you did to Veronica, I know that." He didn't seem angry about that, or even annoyed about it. So she was willing to take it as a compliment. He just shifted down a little more, tapping his hand against her thigh. "Like everyone in the universe you went to your best friend when you needed to bitch about me. The two of you need a lot more time together, then decide. Don't write her off straight away." That was definitely good advice, and she was going to try and take it all on board, because that was the kind of advice that she needed.

She picked up Serena, finally sure that her daughter was clean, and then leant into Jonathan's side. Glad when he wrapped his arm around her. It made her feel a little more supported, and reminded her of something that Veronica had said during dinner. "She said she was proud we were happy."

"That's actually a really nice thing to say, don't you agree?" Jon asked, smirking. It made her glad to know that he was happy with that. She was still a little weirded out that the comment had been made at all.

"I do, but it also weirds me out. Mostly because I don't think of us in those terms." She really didn't. They were happy, but they had been for years. It had been 8 years since they'd gotten back together, that was long before Veronica's change of living status, the first time. "I mean, yeah we had our problems, but we've also been happy for years, since long before she died."

"We have, but it's still a really nice sentiment." Jon looked happier than she felt, but after a few minutes it was obvious that he had something else on his mind to tell her about. After a few minutes she rested her forehead against his cheek, which seemed to prompt him to say whatever it was he was thinking about. "I went to see AG."

Erika burst out laughing at that, because knowing what they were all like whenever they went to see A.G.'s grave, or Forrest's grave, they would have the same conversations, and more often than not they would know what their old friend would have told them to do. "What did that old mucker say?"

"Same as usual. I was being stupid worrying about everything a ridiculous amount. I introduced him to Serena, I think he would be happy." That was a really sweet idea, and she was so proud to have a husband who was that thoughtful and sweet. She wished she'd been there to help introduce him to Serena, but it didn't matter.

"I'm sure he would be." He really would be happy to see that she and Jon had settled down to introduce him to the outcome of their years together. A.G. had always been their biggest fan, and had tried to keep them together even when they'd been giving up. "Did he give you some good advice?"

"He always has done. So did Hoshi, as a matter of fact." The way Jon threw that out told him that Hoshi had told him that he was being an idiot too. Something that almost all of their friends had told one or the other of them recently.

"Really? You know Hoshi is like a less asshole-y version of A.G." Erika had always thought that, it was one of the reasons she had pushed Jon to take Hoshi on his ship, all those years ago. She would, and probably had, kept him in line over the years they'd been explorers. In the end it was why she'd taken Veronica too. Hoshi did have one thing over both their other friends. She had a brain, and the ability to foresee the outcomes of her actions and decisions. "She tends to think her actions through too. A.G. was never very good at that."

"He tried." Jon laughed, loudly. Erika could agree with him at that.

"You and he stole a prototype, Jonathan." That had been almost twenty years earlier, and she was still giving him hell about it. "You almost got me in trouble for that one too because you used my access codes." That was what they'd done, but they had managed to make sure everyone knew she wasn't involved. It would have been hard to be involved anyway, at the time she had been back home in New Mexico.

"You gave them to me!" He looked a little chastised, but not enough to keep that point to himself. So the fact that she'd given him her codes was something he was still keeping on about.

"Not for that!" She elbowed him in the side, making sure that Serena was laid comfortably on her legs so she wouldn't at all be disrupted at her movement there.

"That's true enough, but it kept the entire programme going so you should thank me." He teased back, and somewhat unsurprisingly he was just trying to make her facepalm at him.

"I do. So, I'm going to see Veronica again, on Friday." She'd made the plan only because she knew Jon was going to head out drinking with Trip. "You said you were planning a night out with Trip anyway, so I thought I'd introduce her to Serena."

Jon rolled his eyes and kissed her forehead gently with a smile. Maybe she had made a bad plan, but she also knew it was the one way that she'd know, for certain, that she was moving in the right direction. "That's a big step."

"It is, and I'm still not sure I'm ready to take it. But I need to start trusting her again somehow, and seeing how she is with Serena is probably going to help that."

"Probably true, that's for sure. Just take your time." Jon warned her, and she couldn't really believe that they had all this going on. She was going to take her time, as much of it as she could afford.

"I will, I'm not stupid Jon. Yeah, tell daddy that Bunny. Mommy's not stupid is she." She kissed Serena's cheek and grinned as Jon wrapped his arms around her waist. She was really glad that today was seeming to go well with Veronica, but she was way too afraid to actually face this too much. Jon was definitely right, she needed to take things as slowly as she could to save herself getting hurt again, and to think things over again. She was, honestly, glad to have her friend back, she was just still afraid.


	9. Chapter 9

**It's time for Jon to talk to his best friend about the whole situation, and give Trip the news to begin with.**

**I promise, SassCaptains fans, I have no abandoned you for NCIS: New Orleans. I'm just taking a brief sabbatical. I think that two years of writing one pairing non-stop was beginning to sap my muse. I'm going to try alternating writing to one chapter NOLA, one chapter ENT. Probably not posting though. I'll post whenever I feel like still :P.**

**Also, today is the lovely AmeliaElizabeth's birthday. So go give her stories some love. Hope you're having a great day, my friend!  
Shin xx**

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For some reason, the older Jon got the more he realised that running was a good stress reliever. He was glad he was spending the first morning Trip was back doing this. He knew that Trip had arrived late last night, after he and Serena had headed back home. Trip was somehow awake enough to have agreed to come running with him, which was well beyond Jon's way of thinking. They had brought the kids too, giving Erika and Hoshi the morning to sleep in. Half an hour into their run it became obvious that Trip was wondering what had been going on here. "What's been going on with you recently?"

"Huh?" He asked, keeping up with the pace relatively easily. There was a lot that had been going on, but he was sure that Hoshi would have filled in most of the issues and problems. That was one of the bigger ideas.

"Your sudden desire to go running with the kids at 7am on a Wednesday, Hoshi's been wound up tighter than a bandage and judging by Erika's last letter she's about to have a nervous breakdown?" Jon had completely forgotten that Trip and Erika were good friends, and they spoke other than just talking through him.

"Oh. It's all related to Veronica Fletcher." He commented, then picked up the pace a little to try and stop himself getting to worried about it all. he hated that he was so worried, and so panicked about the decision that he knew Erika needed to make alone. If she didn't, he wouldn't be making it for her.

"How? She died?" Trip asked, and that brought Jon to a stop. Trip kept running on, meaning Jon needed to jog and catch up with him to continue this conversation. He had expected Hoshi to have filled Trip in with absolutely everything that she knew, but maybe not, or maybe she had waited for him to tell him things.

"Hoshi didn't tell you?" He asked seriously, looking a little concerned, purely because maybe that meant something he didn't know.

"She was practically asleep when I got home. We had a cuddle then went to bed." That explained why she hadn't told him anything. She had been pretty tired when he'd arrived, and that made him happier. Hoshi hadn't actually set him up with his friend. "Tell me what?"

So Jon just stopped, and held his hand out hoping to stop Trip too. Because no matter what this was going to kick Trip in the face as much as it had everyone else. Trip had served on _Columbia_, and he'd been closer to Veronica than Jon had been himself. Especially over the last few years. So telling him that a friend he'd mourned was still alive was no doubt going to really concern someone. "She's alive."

"What?" Trip's jaw was almost on the floor, and Jon saw the same momentary battle he'd seen Erika struggle with. Trip, clearly, decided like Jonathan that the feelings of others was mattering a lot more, and he would be able to tell Veronica about his own emotions eventually.

"Yeah." He nodded, then knew he was going to have to tell Trip all the gossip, and all the details. While he was sure that Trip wouldn't fly off the handle, like Rivers probably would when he was told, it was still a scary moment that he wasn't entirely sure that he was ready for. The story all started when Veronica had arrived on his doorstep, telling him her story and hoping that she wouldn't judge him too harshly. "Turned up on mine and Erika's doorstep a few days ago." He said, and it seemed after a few seconds Trip just accepted it.

"Whoa, that's weird." Trip didn't seem as angry as anyone else, either that or he was much better at hiding it than everyone else involved in their lives.

"You're telling me. It is terribly weird." Jon commented then started running again, especially given that Serena had started fussing again, probably because the sound and movement of the pram while he was running had lulled her into sleeping.

Trip started after him a second later, then caught up and started speaking again. "How is Erika taking it?"

Jon sighed and shook his head. Erika's feelings switched faster than anything in his life. Which right now was probably completely accurate and understandable. "She doesn't know, yet. One minute she's glad and the next she's angry and following that she's just confused and a little betrayed." He could understand why that was a good thing. It would mean that she was working through all of this in her own special way. It didn't seem to be an easy way to do it, but it was probably exactly what she needed to do. "They had dinner last night, and Erika seemed to enjoy herself."

"I did wonder why Bunny's coat was with Hoshi when I got home." Trip laughing, then looked at him again seriously and shrugged, managing to do it all without letting go of Toshiko's stroller. "Can't be easy for her though?"

"I guess not." He admitted after a few minutes, and thought back to the night before, long after he'd managed to get Serena to sleep so Erika could sleep. He'd just tried to think how she felt, and why that was taking a lot out of her, it hadn't hurt but he hadn't worked it out either. "I spent last night after she fell asleep trying to put myself in her shoes, and I can't. I keep telling myself that yes, Veronica had been my friend for decades too, but she wasn't on my crew, and she wasn't my XO." He just hadn't been able to imagine exactly how it felt, and how confusing it must have been to learn this. He'd tried everything he could think of. But it hadn't worked. "I even tried swapping T'Pol in there, but however close a friend T'Pol was, it wasn't a 15 year friendship through three separate postings, and a whole lot of shit, mostly that I put Erika through."

"How do you feel about Veronica being back?" That was a good question. He hadn't thought about that. He and Veronica had been friends as long as Erika had been. He remembered when A.G. died, how painful that had been. It still didn't help him with guessing how Erika felt.

He did have some feelings on it, but he wasn't really sure exactly what that was. Whenever he thought on his own feelings he was met with confusion. "Confused, mostly, and a little worried." He was worried only about Erika, not really anything else. Otherwise, it was nice to catch up with a friend. "It's been good to see her though, as different as she is."

"You should bring her to the party tonight."

Jon rolled his eyes and smirked. Erika and Hoshi had organised a joint wedding anniversary/birthday party for him. He didn't think bringing her to that party would actually help at all today. "You mean the surprise party I know nothing about?"

"That one. I'm sure everyone would be glad to see her." Trip was probably right, people would be happy to see her, but this really wasn't a good time. Jon needed for Erika to be happy tonight, so leaving Veronica out of it this year was for the best. Next year she could always come.

"I don't want to put Erika in that position though. She should have a night away from that, and a lot of people will be meeting Bunny for the first time." That was the main plan. Most of their friends had never met her, and this would likely be an event where the press would be happy to get their first pictures of Serena. He felt bad that his poor daughter was going to have to grow up getting use to having famous parents. "I think you forget how uncommon it is for people to have met her, she's only been home two weeks."

"Seems like she's been here a lot longer." Jon agreed there. They had all gotten used to having Serena home, which was the best thing for them all. "Guess that newness of having the baby isn't really helping Erika cope with all of this too."

Jon nodded, having Serena was making things harder, but at the same time he thought that she was maybe helping Erika cope too. "That's definitely true. She's only just getting used to being a mom and then Veronica has come back into her life and reminded her of all the things she's had to go through." They slowed again, then took a break, both clearly needing to breathe and think. All Jon could think about was the change that Erika went through during the war. What they all went through. "Especially through the war."

"Daddy. Stop talking." Toshiko made her presence known, she had clearly been enjoying the run. It was her favourite thing when they were all together. She was the bossy one, which probably came from being the eldest of the crew children. She was going to be a handful when she was older.

"Sorry princess, the grown-ups need to talk." Trip replied, bursting out laughing loudly, which Jon couldn't help but echo.

"Talk and run. I want to play." She was making her preference of what they needed to do obvious, so they started jogging again slowly but surely.

"OK, OK. Aren't you glad Serena can't talk yet." Trip gave him a darkly significant look, but it was obvious he doted on his daughter. Jon actually couldn't wait until she was able to talk the way Tosh could. "Well, at least Veronica came back now and not a month ago, or two months ago."

"You have a point. I'm not really used to feeling like I can't help." He really hated it. Trip was right though. Two months earlier, with a very sick newborn, Erika really wouldn't have been able to cope then. "You know, like I don't know what I'm doing."

Jon didn't miss the sarcastic smirk on his friend's face, which caused a lot more trouble than he probably should have thought about. "You're not?"

"I still outrank you, Captain." He had always enjoyed being out of control, but he hated not being in the loop. So the insinuation that he was alright with feeling out of control was awful.

"Not at 7am out of uniform you don't." Trip laughed even louder, and Jon doubted he'd ever stop now. "Erika probably doesn't need you to help her, she'll work it out in her own time. You need to listen to her, but figure out how you feel about it too." Erika's worries mattered more right now, but Jon understood, he needed to pick.

"How do you feel about it?" That was an important question, because Trip hadn't told him what he thought about this whole situation. He couldn't just be blasé about all of this.

"Me? I'm glad Veronica's not dead, and it's nice to know she's still out there causing havoc, but she was always far closer to your NX team than to the engineers." He absolutely hated knowing that that was true of the tams back then. They'd never mixed much. That was how despite a four-year relationship, Trip and Erika hadn't met until she'd hired him. Things had just been done differently. "You, Erika, Sam Gardner and Erika's crew surely have a lot more to be angry about, and have far more feelings about things."

"You're right, I didn't even think about Erika's crew. I know she's spoken to Kiona Thayer about it, but I don't think any of the others even know. They probably should find out soon though." Erika's crew would all, probably, be as angry, offended and scared as Erika had been. He felt sorry for them all. "It's not as if Veronica can keep it a secret if she's planning on living in the city."

"You know of her plans?" Trip asked, and it was hard for Jon to say both yes and no. He knew what she wanted, and what Starfleet would let her have. They weren't the same thing.

"Some of them, at least." He had been told she was leaving Starfleet, hopefully doing some civilian piloting while staying in San Francisco. She would be housed at the Starfleet base until she had somewhere else to live. If she was staying, she needed to know some things. Lots of things. "Maybe I should talk to her about the things that have been a problem over the last few years. The things she's missed. Not just for Erika but for all of Columbia's crew."

"Daddy! Can you let me out so I can play?" Tosh shouted, clearly impatient now. She just wanted to play.

"I best get madam here to play. You're right, you should speak to her Jon, and I'm sure she'd listen." Trip made the point again, and at least someone agreed that he was doing the best thing by talking to Veronica about all that had changed while she was gone. "She was always a good friend, and I doubt that would have changed."

Jon laughed, but know that that plan was for the best. Let them get through tonight, then they could go back to dealing with Veronica and that whole situation. "I can do that tomorrow, since I should be at work anyway. I'll see you this evening."

"Remember to act surprised." Trip warned, and Jon remembered the last time he hadn't been sufficiently surprised by a party. Erika had sicced a then-four-year-old Carla on him for the night. No doubt she'd bribe Tosh to do something similar this time.

"I will. Bye Toshie." He smiled as Trip bent down to let the toddler out, she jumped around the side of the buggy and waved as he turned and started running back in the direction they'd come. Desperate to both get Serena home and to start thinking about how he would approach Veronica. He also needed to figure out what he could tell her that would impress upon her the seriousness of what had happened the last few years, things she needed to be aware of. It was going to be a challenge, but one that could only make life easier and simpler for Erika. Right now, that was what mattered to him most.


	10. Chapter 10

**Erika throws Jon a birthday party, and makes an announcement about Veronica.**

**Shin xx**

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**February 15th, 2162**

Erika had been happy to put this party together, even at such short notice for what she actually wanted. Originally they weren't going to do anything. She would have been 37 weeks pregnant, and probably too tired to move. Instead they had a seven week old and time to celebrate their relationship and Jon's birthday. Clearly though, someone had told him the plan, as he hadn't been at all surprised. She was going to use her feminine whiles to get it out of him too. "Jonathan."

"I suggest you all run." She heard him tell the throng of people who were gathered around him, hanging on his every story no doubt. She recognised most of them, people who'd been junior officers on one or the other of their ships. Jon, clearly, was going to milk her mood for all he possibly could. "That's her 'I need to have a word with you' voice and believe me you don't want to get dragged into that."

"Really you don't care if we ever have sex again, do you?" She asked as the crowd dispersed, leaving her with a husband and a pram. Serena was, funnily enough, awake right now too. Which was fairly unusual for the baby, but it signified she was getting a little older, and a little more interested in the world around her. That was not helpful when she wanted to tell Jon off though.

He, clearly, wasn't at all threatened by her comment about them having sex. Probably because he knew her well enough that he'd know she wouldn't have been able to see it through in the end. "I'm already in trouble so I might as well go for broke." He smirked, and she gently tapped his stomach.

"Well." Erika just shook her head and smiled, she couldn't really argue with his statement, he had managed to get himself in trouble. She was just annoyed that someone had let the plan out of the bag. There was going to be an easy way for her to confront him about that, and maybe she could use the fact that the baby was awake as help. "You weren't surprised?"

"I'm never surprised anymore." He commented, walking over to the closest seat and then looked up at her and grinned. There was something about the grin on his face that made her continue thinking that someone else had told him, either that or he had actually become able to read her mind. She hoped it wasn't the latter.

"Who told you?" She pressed, hoping that he'd admit it, because she really wasn't in the position to fight with him for long.

"Nobody, I just figured you'd organised something. You've always been good at this." She had obviously pulled the surprise party trick too often over the course of the last 20 years. Either that or she could try and get it out of him later. Right now maybe wasn't the time and Jon wasn't going to let her keep bugging him for it while they were around so many others. He looked around the room and nodded at Tosh and one of the el-Rashad children running around the room. "Ruby OK with us having the babies in here?"

Erika shook her head and shrugged, picking Serena out of the pram and smiling, holding the baby up against her cheek then smiled. "We're a private function, it's good I checked." That was something that she knew was important now for everyone here. The ability to bring their kids with them for nights out like this.

"Good." He commented, and then kissed her cheek, then he reached over and took hold of Serena. She let her go and smiled, because seeing Jon and Serena having a cuddle was one of her favourites. "I think Bunny is more than ready to meet everyone." Jon commented, and it made her realise that it was time she start speaking, and that she might as well talk about Veronica too. Just as her former XO had wanted.

"I'm going to make the announcement about Veronica too." She started, because she knew that is was time. The problem was going to be that Jon would want to protect her from the fallout by their friends.

"Don't you think she should do that on her own?" He was being a lot calmer than she'd expected, but maybe that was because he had hold of Serena now.

"I asked her if I could, Jonathan." He looked at her with some concern, and it was obvious that he was a little concerned about her, and what she was going to do. It was something necessary though, and it would be easier for her to say it now. "Last night over dinner."

"You didn't invite her?" He asked, and there was a note of panic in his voice. Did he really think that she was that ridiculous, and that she would have done that right now when there were people here who would not react well to Veronica's reappearance.

So she just looked at him and smiled. She "No, I said that there would be too much bad blood here when they knew. In a few months everyone will accept that she's alive." She took a breath and stood up, taking a few steps forward and kissing Serena's cheek before looking at Jon again. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, I love you." That was the only comment she needed to hear, so she gave Jon a gentle kiss and turned away, already feeling the nerves hitting her as she did.

"Me too. Alright shut up." She made it to the stand where they'd set up for any speeches or addresses to be given. It was the easiest for her to point out there. "As you know, I arranged this party for a few reasons. For the first, Jonathan and I have now been officially married for a year." There was loud round of applause, and she couldn't help but smile widely. It had been a very long day and getting this response made her happy.

"And unofficially married for twenty!" Trip shouted from the back, where Erika looked immediately, just in time to see Hoshi elbow him in the stomach. It took her a moment to pause and not burst out laughing. She agreed, in a way. It had been that long since they'd fallen for each other.

"Yes, that's funny isn't it? Add on to that it's time you all met Serena. She's sat over there with Jon right now, but she's a little sickly and small, so we're not going to pass her around." She smiled again, nodding over to Jon who held Serena just a little higher so that all the other people around could see her. "The last announcement is probably the most shocking, and I beg of you, come and ask me questions privately. Veronica Fletcher is alive."

She heard a lot of the rumblings, but the loudest was Kalil, and she wasn't surprised. It had been between Kalil and Stewart, but somehow Stewart had managed to stay quiet. "What!" Kalil shouted again, which just caused Trip to stand up and shout loudly.

"Kalil, hold it. Let her finish." He shouted, loudly enough that the grumbling settled down, which thankfully gave her the chance to carry on talking, and telling them exactly what she could tell them publicly. She would tell Kalil, and possibly Stewart, what details she could. Most of these people would never get the details, because they couldn't.

"Yes. Veronica is alive, I've known a few days now and I've still not really processed it, not even a little, and I flick between how I feel about it." She wasn't their captain anymore, she didn't need to mince her words, and she could tell them when she wasn't feeling confident about something. She was still doing the right thing by telling them all though. "But the important thing is that everyone knows. She was under orders during the war, she didn't want to leave us, or _Columbia_. That's important that everyone know. I've basically told you all I can, now get drunk and process it your own way because Jonathan is paying." She smiled and stepped down, almost sure that _Columbia_'s former crew would be taking advantage of that.

"You remember we're married and have a joint account now, right?" Jon asked almost the second she got back to the table they'd claimed as their own tonight. Yes, technically that was true, but she had a reputation to keep. That reputation was that she didn't like to pay for things she didn't have to.

"I remember I just didn't want them to think I'd pay because I'm a cheapskate." She grinned and shook her head, because it was obvious that he knew exactly what she meant.

"That's true enough." Jon clearly noticed Kalil and Stewart approaching at the same time she did, and leant down and gave her a kiss. "I'll take Serena on a circuit of the room." He then took Serena up and around, stopping at the first person he came across.

She kept watching him until they were blocked by Stewart, at which point she motioned to the two seats across the table from her. "Alright. Sit down you two." She thought that it was probably the best that she do this now. As quickly and as quietly as she could. It would mean that they would not be able to do anything.

"What do you mean Veronica's alive, Erika?" Kalil asked, managing to keep it quiet. She was about to reply, but only a second later Stewart began speaking.

"We were all there, at her funeral." Stewart was, as usual, the one who approached all of this with an odd outlook on life. It was really not surprising that he'd made it through the war. Though Erika began debating letting him continue to live with his next comment. "Is she a zombie, because that would be kind of cool."

"How does Anna not kill you?" Kalil interrupted before Erika could say anything. This had been a regular conversation back on _Columbia_, and apparently it hadn't stopped her.

"Just lucky I guess." He commented, with a winning smile again.

"Kalil, I can tell you some of the details next time we're alone in a secured place, but otherwise I've already said all I can. She was ordered undercover during the war."

Stewart was the first one to look back at her seriously. She was glad to see that part of him, because it was so very rare that she saw that side of him. "You've seen her though?"

"We had dinner last night. She's OK."

"You swear?" Kalil echoed Stewart's worry, and it was obvious there was a lot of worry in his mind for his old friend.

"I swear." She would always, always tell the truth about anything she possibly could. If it was against orders, she would keep it to herself. The truth was Veronica was alright, but just not ready to be here. "She's not ready to face everyone yet, but I'll get her to write you both."

"It's hard to believe." They both said at exactly the same time, and he couldn't believe her at all.

Erika nodded, understanding exactly how the two of them were feeling, and struggling with it herself. "I know. It's been days since I found out and I'm still mostly in shock about it."

"We'll all decide for ourselves in time, I suppose." Kalil commented and nodded. "You'll take longer than the rest of us." Kalil then turned to Stewart. She almost couldn't believe the two of them, they were still bickering, even through this.

"We will. Keep your chin up Erika. Things will be fine." Stewart smiled, then clapped Kalil on the shoulder. "You know, Faisa hasn't killed you yet either, so you should lay off Anna. She's caused some injuries at least." That was not a conversation Erika wanted, or needed, to be a part of. She was glad that almost everyone was accepting her word on the level, but at the same time she was glad that Kalil and Stewart had come and spoken to her directly. Hopefully that would stop any rumours from starting. Maybe. If they were all lucky. It wouldn't be fair to Veronica if people were starting rumours about her already. She'd only been home a few weeks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Jon and Veronica meet in the 602... to talk about things. Also, I'm hoping to go to posting a chapter every other day here, alternating with NOLA. Basically I fell very hard and very fast into the NOLA fandom, and I just know it's going to cause me pain.**

**Shin xx**

* * *

**February 16th, 2162**

He waited at the bar, wondering if Veronica was actually going to show. He knew that if she was going to be back in their lives, there were things she'd need to know, things that he knew Erika wouldn't say. He loved his wife too much to see her open herself up again and be let down, disappointed or hurt. He was certain that he would be in trouble if Erika found out he was doing this. It would be worth it though, if he protected her. He was still lost in his thoughts when there was a tap on his shoulder. Similar to the way Erika had come back into his life. He shook his head to push off that train of thought as Veronica climbed onto the stool beside him and looked round.

"Nice to know this place hasn't changed." She smiled. He had to nod at that. In the almost 30 years since he joined Starfleet he didn't think it had changed anything but the barstaff.

"I don't think it'll ever change. How are you?" He asked the simple pleasantry, hoping that things were alright, whatever the situation, Veronica was still a friend.

"It's alright. I'm not really used to civilian life. I had my induction at the flight centre today, they had to remind me not to call everyone sir." She laughed. Jon had to wonder how he'd cope with civilian life. He probably wouldn't. He'd been with Starfleet since he was 21. It would also explain Erika's restlessness with her maternity leave, she'd been in Starfleet far longer than half her life. He shook the thoughts off. That was something to consider when he got home.

"You got everything sorted, I presume? With the job?"

"It's your average civilian piloting job. Not the most interesting of thing." She smiled, then looked him over. "Jon, you didn't ask me here to talk about civilian life, out with it?"

"I asked you here because I love my wife." He started, holding a hand up when he saw that Veronica was going to give a smartass answer to that. "I love my wife, and because of that, I need to tell you things, things you missed." He took a deep breath, worrying about what he was going to tell her, while at the same time knowing this was something he had to do. "Erika isn't the woman she was 6 years ago, and that goes far beyond the fact we're married and have Serena now." He smiled a little despite the gravity of the situation. Veronica just kept looking at him, waiting for him to go on. "I'm sure you read the stats on PTSD in Starfleet veterans of the war?" He asked, it seemed like everyone had, and liked to ask him about.

"Something about 40% of vets came down with it, higher among command ranks." She said, and he nodded, at least she knew the basics.

"Erika was hit pretty severely, a combination of her time held by the Orions, yours and Sidra's deaths, and the orders she had to give. This was all less than three years ago. It doesn't show much since we brought Serena home, but it still haunts her." He closed his eyes, trying to stop visualising how Erika still sometimes woke up. "She still wakes up shaking and sweating in the night." He frowned but at least Veronica seemed to get how serious things were. He wouldn't have told anyone else, because they didn't need to know. Veronica did need to know, if she was going to come back in.

"She'd kill you if she knew you were here, wouldn't she?"

"Oh yeah, I'd be in trouble." He grinned and took another sip of his drink. "I'm not telling you any of this for a life of ease. I'm telling you because if you're going to be back in Erika's like, you need to know what changed that you can't see. You have to take it too. Because while she will always have Serena and I, we're the people who will always be in her life, but she has a place for everyone, and we can't fill your spot. However hard we try."

"Jon, I'm not coming back to leave again. I understand you worrying." Veronica looked at her wrist then looked back up at him. "Erika was my first friend when I came to the NX programme, she and I served with each other through three postings. She showed enough faith in me to make me her XO." Veronica grinned at that, and Jon did too. He had argued with Erika once, right after he got back from the Expanse, about how he wasn't sure that she was ready to be Erika's second. She'd told him that she knew Veronica well enough, and had argued passionately as to why she believed she was ready. He would always remember that argument, and he knew that Erika would never have changed her mind about Veronica being her XO. He looked back to Veronica after she'd controlled herself again, and smiled, encouraging her to go on. "I didn't leave by choice, and I'm no longer in Starfleet. I won't be leaving again, I swear. Erika is all the family I have left." He understood what she meant, while his mother was still alive, they weren't too close. They hadn't been for years, so sometimes he felt Erika and Serena were all he had, soon they would be, he didn't fool himself about that.

"She gets in your head, doesn't she?" He asked with a grin. Even when they hadn't been together, she had been near his thoughts. At Veronica's knowing smile he realised she knew exactly what he meant by it. "I have to be protective of her, and she'd never tell you any of this on her own. But in my opinion you need to know. She's changed a lot in the last few years, not necessarily in a bad way, but it is absolutely something you should know." He drained the last of his drink and stood up as he did. "I really should get going. My wife and daughter will be expecting me soon."

"Happy birthday, Jon." Veronica smiled, clearly thinking still about what he'd just said.

"Thanks, I best go check in though. I haven't seen much of my girls so far today, I left work early. They'll be wondering where I am." He picked up the bag he had at his feet with a grin.

"You are really, really proud to be a daddy, aren't you?" Veronica asked before he had chance to walk away, and her question was specific enough to cause him to stop and think for a minute.

"I am, especially with Erika. I always wanted a family, but the only person who I ever wanted it with was the one I thought I blew it with." He smiled, almost certain Veronica would remember the first time he and Erika broke up the same as he did. "She took me on in the end." He grinned again and Veronica clapped him on the shoulder. He returned the gesture before finally turning to leave. Almost a little impatient to get home to his wife after that conversation. All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and hold her, for just a minute. That was all he needed to remind himself that she was there and they were both OK.


	12. Chapter 12

**Veronica gets to meet Serena.**

**Shin xx**

* * *

**February 17th, 2162**

This week had been a very busy week for Erika, but tonight she was planning a quiet and calm evening in, and had invited Veronica the way she had a hundred thousand times before. Jon had managed to plan his night out too. She knew he needed the time to spend away from home, with other friends and do other thing. It was just as important that he do that. She'd buzzed Veronica up, and was now wondering if Jon was actually ready to go out. "Hey, how are you?"

"Good, come on in." She waved Veronica into the living room with a grin. She's was too happy right this moment not to be smiling. It really did make her happy to know that right now she was moving toward the right place. She was honestly happy to be able to join Veronica on nights like this again, even more so when she really needed a night off from Jon too.

"Erika, do you know where I left my wallet?" She heard called through as he started wandering through the lounge

"Sure, it's in the bowl, by the door." She pointed then shook her head, unable to believe that Jonathan managed to forget where anything went even when it was somewhere normal and safe.

"Hey Veronica." Jon smiled, jogging through the living room as she came through the door, picking up his sweater then his wallet. "I might be back late, Trip and Hoshi had a fight."

"Alright, give me a call if you stay over there late." At least that way she could go to bed with Serena and not try waiting up for him.

"I won't, Saturday tomorrow so I get my day with Bunny." How had she forgotten exactly how much he looked forward to Saturday morning with Serena, and she looked forward to a Saturday morning where she got the lie in.

Erika couldn't help but giggle a little, because he was being extremely affectionate recently, and all it did was amuse her. He needed to go, even if she wasn't going to do anything, Jon needed to go and do his own thing. "Fine, get out." She swatted him with the PADD and grinned as he kissed her then ran out, taking his bag and sweater with him.

"You two really never change, do you?" Veronica commented as the door finally closed and Jon disappeared off out of it. Erika was just glad to know that they were still the same as they'd once been. That was almost too hard to believe after so many years together.

But she didn't think they'd changed, at least not detrimentally. They had gotten closer, but that was probably it. She didn't know if they'd be able to do this forever, but it was part of their dynamic so far. "Probably not. We've always been like this."

"Oh that I am well aware of." Veronica burst out laughing, and that definitely made Erika feel a little more comfortable and happy about the things that hadn't changed in the last 20 years.

"I'm just surprising that it's taken you this long to notice it." Given that she was well aware that they'd always been like this, she was very, very surprised that Veronica had only just noticed it enough to tell her friend, or at least to imply to her friend that nothing had changed in the last decade.

"Oh no, I noticed it 15 years ago. I just didn't have the heart to tell you until recently." That was probably a good thing. It meant that Veronica felt comfortable enough again to speak to Erika like a friend again.

"Good. So, movie." She brought it back to the main reason they were here today, the things she needed to actually start the movie, otherwise they'd end up gossiping all night. "I pulled a few of our old favourites out for tonight. I even got popcorn."

"You're spoiling me." Veronica smirked back at Erika, and she had to stop herself from laughing.

Erika smirked and shook her head. It wasn't necessarily spoiling Veronica, but spoiling herself. She needed some time alone, but she had never actually been good at being _alone_. Even when she'd lived alone she'd preferred to have people around her, and she'd tried to have people over as often as she could. So it was as much for her benefit. Being alone made her lethargic, being with others energised her, and she couldn't really explain that to anyone. "Well, I wouldn't call it that." She laughed a little and motioned to the stack of Jon's reports. "I need a night where Jon isn't telling me details from whichever report he's reading. They've gone seeing some Water Polo match, then they'll end up at the 602."

"You think?" Veronica, clearly, had forgotten exactly how ridiculous Jon and Trip could be when they were left alone.

"I'm pretty sure." She was so very used to them. At least she didn't tend to go with them anymore, she had to stay home with the baby. No matter what Jon tried to teach her, water polo live just didn't do it to her. "Trip ships out again next week."

Veronica looked at her a few minutes then sat forward, looking a little serious. Clearly, something was on her mind. After a few minutes, she finally started talking. "The one thing I never expected was you settling on Earth." Erika was about to say something when a hand was held up and her companion continued talking. "I always knew Jon would, eventually. But you. I just imagined that you would still have a command."

Really, Erika could understand that. She'd never wanted to be a stay at home parent. Right now she was happy on Earth, and she didn't want to think about having to go. "I do still have a command, it's just Earth-based. Plus I never actually thought I'd enjoy being a mother."

"Still can't believe you have a kid." It wasn't entirely surprising that Veronica didn't believe that. Erika had always been undecided on having a child, and then after the miscarriage she'd been dead set against it. Right up until the middle of the war, when Jon had managed to convince her to give it another go. Now she had her daughter, and Jon was the happiest she'd ever known him.

"Wanna meet her?" Erika asked, she knew that Serena's post-bath nap would not last for very much longer. Meaning they would be interrupted by the screaming baby before they had time to settle into anything before she'd start crying.

"What?" Veronica looked a little panicked. For some reason Erika wasn't surprised at that. She remembered how little Andrea Robinson had acted around Veronica, which had led to the longest staring contest in history. Andrea was almost nine now, and Erika still wasn't sure if they'd spoken to each other.

"She'll be waking up soon, and then you're going to have to meet her." As if on cue, Serena started screaming from the back of the apartment. She was absolutely certain that, if left alone Serena would scream the building down. It was best she not test that theory. "Speak of the devil, I'll be back in a moment." She smiled, and ran to the back of the room, leaving Veronica alone. It was obvious that Serena was not a happy person, and was instead really desperate for her mommy to treat her. After checking her diaper and wrapping her up in another blanket, she carried her through to lounge and smiled. "Bunny, say hello to Veronica." She sat down next to Veronica with a grin, holding Serena out so Veronica could see easier.

"Wow, she is tiny." Veronica reached out and stroked one of Serena's tiny hands.

Erika smiled and tickled Serena's stomach gently. Holding onto her loosely. She was absolutely certain that "Yeah. She wasn't even due for another couple of weeks. She's doing good though. Took after Jonathan. Here, you hold her."

"I don't know about that." Veronica shook her head and laughed.

"She's almost 8 weeks old, you're not going to hurt her." She could understand being a little apprehensive about holding her, because she was so tiny, so reminding Veronica that she wasn't going to break was the best idea.

"8 weeks?" Was asked, and it was almost hard for her to believe that that long had passed.

She counted quickly in her mind and realised exactly how quickly it was all passing along now.. "Tomorrow. She was born on Christmas Eve."

Veronica's face told the whole story of her opinion on Christmas births. It was hard to believe already that that was 8 weeks ago, and that they'd had Serena home for nearly three. "Wow, nice Christmas present." She commented eventually, and Erika just shook her head. That Christmas was one she'd never forget,

"Scary Christmas present. Jon missed it too. He didn't even see his daughter born because of his dedication to Starfleet. He's an amazing father though. You should see him with her." No matter what happened between her and Jonathan, and she wasn't naive she knew that sometimes relationships didn't last even after marriage and children, she would never be able to say he was a bad father. He doted on Serena, and she was his little genius. "She can already track objects, and she likes to smile back at people. We weren't sure if she'd hit her milestones on time, but she seems to be doing so far."

"I saw him with Carla when she was a baby. I can only imagine he's even better with this little one." Veronica smiled again then looked up at Erika. It was clear that, finally, Veronica had realised that Erika had been right all along. Serena was definitely an Archer more than a Hernandez, at least right now. "She does look just like him."

"She's got my eyes, and my attitude." That much was obviously already, even just being two months old. She could already let her family know when she wasn't happy, or when she wanted something. Erika had even learnt to differentiate Serena's cries for which one meant what. She did look just like Jon, and had since birth. "Otherwise she's all Jon. That might change, but not for a while yet."

"Soon enough." Veronica muttered, and Erika was beginning to realise exactly how true that little saying was too. Time really did fly when you were busy. "So, little one, Shall we watch a movie with your mom."

"Let me get the popcorn, and a bottle for her." It seemed far too simple to say that this was a changing point already, but it was. It really was.

"Great." Veronica smiled, and when Erika looked back over that was when she realised that Veronica had worked her way back into their family, and their lives. She was sat, happily bouncing her daughter on her lap, and that was it. Erika knew. She still needed time, and probably a lot of mental working out, but now she was ready to work it out to herself, and get ready to welcome her friend back.


	13. Chapter 13

**Jon arrives home to find Veronica cleaning and his girls asleep.**

**Shin xx**

* * *

**February 17th, 2162**

He had spent the entire night having to deal with a maudlin Trip. That hadn't detracted from the match. He hadn't been invested in either side, but he had still enjoyed watching the match and had enjoyed the drinks at the bar afterwards. He'd been glad to drop his very drunk best friend back at home, and had been even happier when Hoshi confirmed she wasn't angry at him anymore. So getting in to see his girls was the best thing he could have imagined right now. "I'm home." He called out as he walked through the door, then stopped upon seeing Erika and Serena sound asleep in one corner of the sofa. A second later he looked up as Veronica came out of the kitchen.

"They're asleep. It was a little surprising too." Veronica commented with a grin. He looked back to his sleeping girls and was somehow completely unsurprised. He could imagine that Erika's current ability to fall asleep in the middle of conversations had surprised Veronica, and made her smile.

"Fell asleep during the movie, huh?" He asked with a smirk. He'd gotten used to Erika falling asleep, and now he just rolled over and carried on with whatever he'd been doing, or whatever they'd been doing.

"This is a common issue then?" Veronica laughed, shaking her head as she did. It was quite obvious at this point that she wondered if she was boring.

Jon rolled his eyes and had to think of another word to use. It definitely wasn't common, it just happened from time to time. "Not so much common, as it is a regular occurrence. Serena takes a lot out of her." He felt that explaining it was the best idea, because that was the main reason. Erika had hardly slept over the last few weeks, and he therefore understood her falling asleep all over the place. "Erika's a great mom though."

"I can see that, Serena's beautiful though." Jon really couldn't argue with Veronica on that point. Serena was beautiful, and she was absolutely perfect. It was amazing for him to believe that she was a part of him too. "Really smart too, you can tell that already." She laughed, and he knew that Serena actually was smart. She was hitting her milestones, which they weren't entirely sure she'd do given how early she'd arrived. the one thing he didn't understand was how everyone said she was his image. He didn't.

"Everyone says she looks like me." He commented, stepping into the kitchen so if the two of them spoke he wouldn't wake Erika. He didn't want to wake her up no matter what. But while he was sure that Serena did look a little like him, he could see Erika, and all the Hernandez parts of her genes. "I don't see it. I see all the Erika in her."

"There is a lot of Erika in her, but she does look like you. She's got Erika's eyes though." He was well aware of those. He had loved looking at those eyes for 21 years, and he loved that their daughter had inherited them.

"My favourite thing about Erika has always been her eyes." He threw out. He hadn't meant to say anything at all, but it slipped out of his mouth. At the same time, Veronica started laughing, clearly not really understanding that he truly meant that her eyes were his favourite thing about her. "You can laugh, but I'm talking about going way back to when we first met. The first thing I noticed about her were her eyes." He had been stood in that hangar speaking, and badly flirting, with Erika and all he could do was look at her eyes and be completely amazed by them. "It seems like she locks away everything you tell her." He had told her enough secrets that he hoped she locked them away. If she didn't he was in trouble.

"I think all of us on the NX programme experienced that." Something about Erika that had allowed all of them to open up to her, and tell her everything that was on their minds. It seemed she could convince almost everyone to open up to her, even people she'd never met before.

That was another thing that made her an amazing person. "Would be my guess. She was always easy to talk to." A.G., Sam and Rob had all mentioned before that they'd confided in Erika, the people who she worked closely with, and she never told anyone. It was only then he realised how late it was getting, which meant he should probably get Erika and Serena into their beds. "I should get these ladies to bed."

"Yeah. I've done most of the cleaning up, so you shouldn't have too much to do." Veronica motioned to the now clear mugs and plates all over the kitchen counter.

"Thanks. Did you have fun?"

Veronica nodded, smiling even more. It was clear that she had really been happy to spend the evening here. "I did, it's nice to know that you and Erika are happy and settled. You guys have done so well, and Serena's a treat." He would not have imagined called his baby a treat, but he could understand it too. He was certain that Serena was a treat, to the people who didn't know her. The problem was he dealt with her screams in the middle of the night. "She peed on me a little, but Erika lent me some pants." That came so out of the blue he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"That's good. I'm sorry she peed on you." He apologised, even though he couldn't stop himself from laughing loudly.

"She's a baby, she couldn't help it." That was the truth, but he still had the urge to apologise. Especially if Erika had had to lend her some new trousers. "I'm glad that you've both let me back in Jon. You and Erika, and Serena, you're now all I have left and I'm glad you let me in."

"I'm glad too. So, We'll see you in a few days, right?" He hoped that it would mean that she and Erika had decided where they were heading, and what they were going to do. He would always hope that that was the outcome of this. Erika needed her friends, now more than ever.

"Next week. I need to do some 'pilot training' over the next few days." Veronica rolled her eyes, and Jon understood what she meant. She had been a test pilot, and had probably spent more time in shuttles that anyone at her new job could have even imagined.

So he just shrugged and smiled, because he knew exactly how annoying it would be to had to do something she was an expert in. "Well, you know where we are?"

"I do. See you soon Jon." Veronica picked up her sweater and headed for the door.

"You will." He showed her out, then smiled and turned back to his sleeping wife and daughter. He picked Serena up off Erika's chest, knowing by now from experience that that simple action would wake her up. Hopefully he'd have enough time to get Serena settled in his arms before she woke. "Hey Bunny, come here. Oh, you were comfy on mommy, weren't you?" He whispered to her, pulling her blanket and wrapped it around the baby.

"Jon?" Erika asked after a few seconds.

He smiled, stroking her hair gently and hoping that she didn't end up worked up. "Yeah, it's me."

"How is Trip?" She mumbled, and he was impressed she remembered they'd been having earlier.

"He and Hoshi will make up tonight, he was being an asshole but she'll forgive him." That was what he'd figured out through the conversation they'd had tonight. He hoped that was how it went anyway. He had never imagined those two would work together, but they did. "How did you and Veronica enjoy yourselves?"

"We had a lot of fun." Erika smiled and stretched, then looked up at him seriously. "She spent a lot of time cuddling with Serena, until Serena started to pee."

"She mentioned that. Come on, let's get to bed." He was going to try and get Erika into her actual bed soon, sleeping on the sofa wouldn't be good for her at all.

Erika just looked at him then shook her head in an adorable way. He smiled then tugged her hand, waiting to see if that would convince her to stand up and actually make the move she was meant to make. "I'm too tired to move."

"Go get yourself into bed. I'll put her in the crib." He smiled, giving Serena a gentle squeeze as he stood up properly. "Then I'll be in with you."

"Alright, you get up with her in the morning." Erika yawned, still not even making the first move to stand up. For some reason that didn't surprise him at all, she would eventually move, but pushing her wouldn't work either.

"I was going to. Get to sleep, Rike." He kissed her gently and smiled. Holding Serena tightly. He was sure their daughter just needed to be in her crib too, they all needed sleep. Knowing that Erika was quite this tired told him a lot. The two of them hadn't spent that much time together really, recently, and he wished that he could be around more so that the majority of the care-giving wouldn't fall to her. He had the weekend, he'd let Erika rest.


	14. Chapter 14

**Erika meddles in Veronica's new job. **  
**Just some news for everyone. I'm likely to be slow uploading things. I've been really taken over by NCIS (as people have probably noticed) but also because my sister is having some really serious health concerns right now. So I'm struggling to write anything. I'm working on a couple stories in this timeline, and I'll start posting them when I can. **

**This isn't over yet though, and there is one more story already ready to go.**

**Shin xx**

* * *

**February 20th, 2162**

Erika was suddenly feeling the best she had in a long time, largely because she'd actually managed to get two full nights sleep. Maybe falling asleep on the sofa on Friday night had convinced him that she actually needed some time where she wasn't the one in charge of everything in their home. Today she'd decided to try and meddle. She'd always been good at meddling. So she'd gotten the numbers of those who were going to be Veronica's supervisors from now on, and she was going to give them a call. Just because she needed to feel like she was doing something. Waiting on them to connect was the worst part of any call. "Captain Hernandez, this is an unexpected pleasure."

"Hi. Wait I know you." She commented after a few seconds. She knew the person who was there, and she knew that he was someone she'd never paid much attention to. The fact she recognised him said a lot though, and it made her happy to know that she still could do that.

"Craig McNulty. I was a junior pilot on the NX programme." That explained it. She had never paid very much attention to the junior pilots, but she'd always tried to be fair to them, and to try and be as even handed as she could be. She'd even yell at the senior pilots if they were being assholes. It was clear that McNulty remembered that too. "You were always good to me. I was glad to see you get given a command." That was nice of anyone to say.

"Thanks, I was glad to get one, too." She couldn't imagine that a former NX pilot would have been heading up the CPA for long, so that was the next question for her to ask, and the next point for her to make. "How long have you been running the CPA?"

"Seven years, now." It was obvious that he was proud of that, and she would no doubt be that happy if it was something she was proud of too. A second later though, McNulty looked at her seriously and smiled. "Captain, I can't imagine you called to catch up. How can I help you?"

"Since you were on the NX programme, you'll remember Veronica Fletcher." She hoped so, at least. They didn't take any juniors until after Veronica was hired for the team.

"Yes ma'am I do." There were some rules, and some protocols, that Starfleet drilled into their junior officers that life didn't let go. That included calling anyone of a higher rank 'ma'am'. She should have been prepared for that.

Erika was glad, at least, that he remembered Veronica, and considering it hadn't been followed by a string of curses she assumed that he had some fond memories of her. That would make this whole conversation a whole lot simpler. "She's been sent to you for a job."

"She has?" He asked, a little confused. Somehow that didn't surprise her, because it was a common name, and nobody would associate after such a long time that there would be a former, highly trained, officer who would have started looking for a job with the civilian authorities.

"According to Admiral Gardner." She shrugged, since she knew that Veronica wouldn't want anyone thinking that she'd asked her former CO to call.

All that happened was that McNulty started looking around his desk, before glancing back to Erika. "Let me pull up some records." After a few minutes of keytapping, she heard the chirp that signified that Veronica's files had been found. "Oh, yeah. There she is. She's doing basic training." Basic Training? For a former Test Pilot. That must be a kick in the teeth for her.

"Is that necessary she was a damn test pilot." It was ridiculous, to Erika's mind, that Veronica was going to be being _taught_ basic skills. Skills that she'd had almost all her entire career.

"Unfortunately she has to do the training to get her commercial licence." Alright, that made a little more sense. She still wasn't sure if making a test pilot go through it all was a fair thing. McNulty may have seen something in her face, so he continued speaking. "If I could wave it for her I would."

"What are her duties likely to be after she completes the course?" She gave up trying to understand why Veronica was having to do the basic training, and instead focused on the main reason she'd called, which was to check on what Veronica would be doing. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much.

"We're taking her on as a private pilot." Telling her that would probably mean something if she was a pilot, but she wasn't. She just kept looking at him until he explained exactly what it meant. "So it will be small shuttles, mostly dignitaries, around the globe and up to Jupiter station. Maybe as far as Luna and Mars."

She was glad to know that, and she really hoped he meant it, that the furthest she'd travel would be Luna or Mars. It wouldn't be very good for her to be out in deep space, not after everything. "Nothing out of the system, though?"

"No, she'll be staying around Earth, why do you ask?" There, they'd finally come to the more important question, why was she doing this. The truth was that she was doing it for reasons she didn't want to admit to someone she didn't know.

"She's my friend, she's had a hard time, I'm worried about her." That was as close as she was going to come right now. It would be a lot easier to explain to someone else, someone she knew even better.

"Understandable." Clearly he just assumed it was PTSD from the war. Which she was sure Veronica would have her share of, but it wasn't worth saying anything right now. "I'll keep my eye on her Captain."

"It's nice to see you landed on your feet." She didn't know how to say thanks for a favour she probably shouldn't have been asking, so instead she said the first thing that came into her mind. She knew that not everyone landed on their feet after leaving Starfleet, so she was genuinely happy that McNulty had.

"Yeah, speak again soon, no doubt." He said, then cut the contact almost immediately. Maybe he'd noticed how awkward it had just gotten too.

She was still sat, looking at the screen when she heard the door open and realised that Jonathan had gotten home. As usual, when she wasn't dealing with Serena, Jon got a confused look on his face and stepped up behind him. "What have you been doing?"

"I called Veronica's new boss." There was literally no point pretending that she hadn't been doing that, she'd tell him again anyway. "He was one of our juniors on the NX Programme. So it meant there was a dedication."

"You shouldn't have done that Erika, you know that." Jon's gentle scolding reminded her why they'd agreed not to push for their former officers. It didn't stop either of them, but it was better to pretend there was an agreement that they wouldn't. it was something they could fall back on when they didn't interfere.

"I do, but I still wanted to do something." That was the long and short of it. She'd wanted to do something good for her friend.

"You have done a lot for her already, Veronica can do it all on her own. You really should let her do it on her own now. She's no longer in Starfleet, and you're no longer her CO."

She smirked, laughing at herself almost immediately. That was a problem she had with all of her former officers, and it appeared that it was coming on to Veronica too. She was, once, her officer. So it counted. She'd need Jon to start reminding her to leave things alone and not meddle, otherwise she'd just keep doing it. "You might have to remind me of that from time to time."

"I will, where's Bunny?" She had to think for a second, then she remembered that Serena had been sleepy all day.

"She's asleep, she was a sleepy little kid today." She squeezed the muscle at the back of her neck, a muscle she hadn't even known was tight until she'd noticed that it hurt to move her neck. A second later Jon's hands hit her shoulders and rubbed the crick out of it.

"That's good." Jonathan commented, and it was obvious that he knew she had over-thought everything without Serena to keep her busy. She actually needed Serena to keep her busy now, and away from things that were bothering her, or her own feelings of inactivity. Jon would know that better than anyone. "Now, come away from the comm, lets watch a movie."

"Alright. I can do that." She smiled, allowing Jon to pull her back to the sofa. If Serena stayed asleep a little they might actually stand a chance at being actual human adults together for a while. She actually missed getting to spend time alone with Jonathan, so while she might pretend to complain today, she was actually happy about getting the time together, since it didn't happen often enough.


	15. Chapter 15

**Jon finds out about what Veronica did and makes a decision about what Erika needs to know. This is the penultimate chapter in this fic.**  
**Shin xx**

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**February 21st, 2162**

For 10 days something had been playing on Jon's mind. He hadn't been able to dislodge anything, and that was the most annoying, awkward part of the whole situation. How had Veronica survived until this point, and how had she made it back to Earth. There was a lot of things he didn't understand, and he wanted to. So he'd come to the mission room at the back of the Starfleet Library, and had stayed here all day. He was still searching when he noticed someone else in the room. "Jon, you're snooping. Why are you snooping?" Was asked, and that was when he realised it was Sam Gardner who was there with him. He could at least speak to Sam about what was going round his mind.

"Someone noticed I'm snooping?" He decided to ask instead. Because that would push something off on someone else rather than him having to admit something he wasn't sure Sam would let him keep going.

"The librarian." Sam pointed over his shoulder out the glass door to this section. The librarian looked away quickly, but it was clear that she had been watching what was going on in here. Jon tried to remind himself that her noticing was probably a good thing. "She's worried about you. Apparently you've been here all day."

That was true, he had been there all day. He couldn't find what he was looking for, and that was the problem. It was also why he was still there. "Since I got to work this morning, yeah."

"What are you looking for?" Sam asked, understanding exactly what Jon meant by staying here all day. He wasn't going to say anything, or do anything if he was ordered not to, but he hoped Sam would help him, or let him figure it out.

"Information." That was the only thing he could say. He was maybe being a little too cagey, but he wanted to avoid being told to stop.

"On?" Sam asked, seriously, but he knew. Jon could tell that Sam knew.

He knew that he was going to have to admit it now. He'd need to tell that he was searching for the records on Veronica's missions, and he'd need to explain why he was so determined to find out what happened while she was away. "Veronica Fletcher's mission."

"Why?" Sam had known. He was right. He hoped that he'd now be able to convince Sam that he deserved to know about the mission, and that he needed to know that his wife and his daughter were safe.

"Because she told me a little about her mission when she arrived on my doorstep 10 days ago." That was all it had been, a little. He knew there was more to it than what Veronica had told him, and what he'd been able to find out since. Reading the mission reports would assuage his worry and pain. "I'm curious about the actual mission though."

"Jon, I know she was your friend-"

"Is. She is my friend. Erika's too. She's not dead, Sam." He'd had to interrupt, because now she had returned they knew Veronica wasn't dead, which meant there was no need to think about her in the past tense. "We worked with her for five years dammit, she should be your friend too." He couldn't believe that Sam had written their friend off so easily, so quickly.

"She is, Jonathan." Sam tried to placate him, but Jon wasn't entirely sure that he meant it. Maybe there were other things that Jon could be doing to search, but this was the most obvious, and Sam wouldn't stop him in the end, he would just try to protect him. "But that still doesn't mean that we need to know all the details."

"I do." He shouted, glad to know that while Sam didn't feel the need to know, but he had a family. He needed to protect his family and to do that he needed to know that Erika wasn't going to be in danger. "I need to know I'm not leaving my wife and daughter around someone who could be dangerous. Even if she is a friend." He wouldn't tell Erika that he was afraid, but he couldn't not say anything about it.

Sam sighed, clearly realising that Jon wasn't going to give up. "Fine. I'll have the file sent over to your office." That was a win, something that Jon hadn't expected either. Maybe he wanted to know, or maybe he was just worried about Erika and Serena too. "It'll be appropriate for your security clearance, nothing blacked out is going to be relevant to knowing what you want to know."

"Sam I need total access." He argued. He didn't necessarily need total access, but he did want it. Mostly to reassure himself.

"No, Jon. You don't." Sam shook his head and then walked away. Clearly not wanting to talk about the situation anymore.

He slowly walked back to his office, thinking about everything that had gone on, and the fact that Sam had clearly been swayed by his argument. Or something else, he didn't know anymore. All he knew was that getting the file would mean that he could protect his family from this situation if it was necessary. Eventually he arrived back in his office, looking at his aide as she tried to stand up. "Admiral. I have a security file from Admiral Gardner, and your wife called, said she's bringing your daughter this afternoon for a while." That was good news. He had wanted to see them since Sam had said that he could read the files.

"Good, I missed them." He was truly glad to know that he'd see them before too long. No doubt Erika was coming for some reason that he'd forgotten, but he was sure that Kit would remind him. "I'll be reading this, let Erika just walk in when she gets here."

"Aye sir." There was clearly something else in her mind that she was thinking about. He knew that he'd hear about it before he made it into his office. "She also told me to remind you that you have dinner reservations tonight and that Ms. Sato will be looking after your daughter." How could he forget that. They had been planning this for days, and he needed to prove that he could actually leave work in the office.

"I remember, thank you Kit." He knew his wife, and his aide, well. Of course they'd had to remind him. They knew him as well as he knew them.

"Yes sir." The smirk on Kit's face told him everything, so instead of waiting for her to contact Erika and tell her that he'd forgotten, so he decided to do his work. He read the reports, the psychological profiles, everything about what Veronica had done over the last five years. At this point he realised that Veronica was not going to put anyone in danger.

He was still reading when he heard the door open, so he slammed shut the folder and shook his head as if waking himself up. Looking up at Erika as she came through. He already knew that she would ask him. "Jonathan, you in here?" She asked, then looked around the door properly.

"Hey Rike, hi Bunny." He stood up and almost ran up to his girls, wrapping his arms around Erika as she did. He knew he needed to see her, but he hadn't really realised quite how much until just now.

"She's been fussy today, I ended up having to use the sling." Erika looked frustrated, and for some reason that didn't surprise him. Serena was really quite a handful, at the best of times.

"She just wants daddy, don't you Bun?" He smiled, taking her out of the sling and holding her up. Almost straight away the grumbling baby settled down again. She was clearly going to be a daddy's girl. That was becoming obvious now.

Erika started wandering around his office, just like she did a million times before. He knew she wouldn't start reading anything on his desk though. While she was curious, she also knew that he had higher security clearance than she did. He told her everything she needed to know, and often things she didn't. In this room though, spousal privilege wouldn't cover them from anything, and she knew that. "What are you reading?"

"Mission reports. Nothing interesting." He waved it off, making the decision in that moment that he wasn't at all going to tell Erika the details. He knew that it wasn't worth telling her about it. He now knew that she was safe, so he didn't need to tell her either. "Nice play, by the way, on getting Kit to remind me of our dinner tonight."

"First chance we've had for dinner out together since Bunny arrived, I didn't want you to get caught up here and forget."

"Is that why you've come to visit?" He asked with a smirk. Knowing that he'd already been reminded about their dinner, he was still certain that Erika had come to remind him again.

"Yes. So, no mission reports I'd be interested in?" It was clear that Erika was bored, and if she really wanted to go back to work, he would support her. Right now she was probably just bored though.

"Not a one. How about I leave early today?" He didn't have anything else pressing to do, therefore leaving with his family when he had chance would work perfectly well. Kit could handle anything else, and could call him if anything urgent happened.

"That would be nice." Erika smiled, and Jon knew instantly he was making the right decision. When she was an admiral, or back at work, Erika could find this all out for herself. Right now though it was better she didn't know the details, and he didn't have any intention of telling her, he doubted Veronica would either. The most important thing was that Erika was happy.


	16. Chapter 16

**Erika reflects on their family time, and the things that have changed recently. Thanks for reading this. I have one story completely written now in ENT, then I might be taking a break while I write some NOLA stories, but I'll be back to my babies. I can't leave them hanging.**  
**Shin xx**

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**February 21st, 2162**

Erika hadn't really been quite sure exactly why Jon had decided to come home early with them today, but he was still glad that he had. She hadn't seen much of him the last couple of weeks, and that was the more important thing. There wasn't going to be a problem with that though, especially since it now meant that the two of them could have the night out. It seemed that Jonathan was feeling as excited as she was too. They hadn't had any time together recently, so this night out was something they needed. "Bunny seemed happy to be left with Hoshi." He commented as they walked through the city toward their joint favourite restaurant. It was the only place that did food they were both happy to eat. Sometimes they were the fussiest eaters on the planet. Serena had seemed happy, or at the very least comfortable to be left with Hoshi.

"She's probably fed up of her loser parents already." Erika laughed, shaking his head. She was sure that it wouldn't have mattered either way, really. Given that, she was glad Serena and Jonathan had managed to spend some time together, and even happier that she had been able to watch them do that. "I'm glad you came home with us this afternoon."

"I am too, it was nice to sit with you and Serena for an afternoon without having to worry about someone walking into the office." She had actually managed to get to the point where she was used to people walking in and out of their family time. She guessed that was the one downside to being the people they were, and Serena was going to end up being used to that too.

She had to admit that Jon's assistant was really quite good at ensuring they got some privacy when she could. Her assistant had been too. She was sure that as everyone got older it would just get harder. "Kit is pretty good at keeping people out. Madeline always was too."

"Have you spoken to her?" Jon asked, and Erika just stood there, walking alongside him. Now was where she would have to admit that she was doing some bits of work while she was on leave. Not that Madeline and Commander Brody would have actually let her do too much. Instead she just did what they let her, mostly reading the reports of the things she was checking.

"Madeline, absolutely we talk once a week." She admitted, and Jon's face was a picture. It was exactly what she'd expected, and Erika was actually proud that she'd managed to restrict it to only doing what she was allowed to, and not pushing for more. "She's still my aide Jonathan, and she's keeping my office running while I'm on leave. Commander Brody is the one taking care of my affairs until I'm back on duty." She didn't know if Jonathan had met her deputy over there, he didn't have much to do with the communications section, especially now he was head of research and design.

"You want to go back already, don't you?" Jon commented after a few minutes of silence, and Erika had to admit that she was entirely ready to go back to work, and she always had been. Going back to work was something she'd enjoy, when the time came. She knew that no matter what she did right now she just wasn't going to be ready to go back. The chances were that even when she did go back to work, she'd miss being at home with Serena.

She had to be honest about really wanting to go back to the madhouse that they both called work, and their careers. She knew her career so very much. "I'm considering it. I mean. I'll be back on half days in a month. March 24th." She had always planned to go back to work when Serena hit three months. That was what she'd always truly wanted, because she was losing her nut at that point.

"What about Serena?" Jon asked, and he had a point. They hadn't actually planned what was going to happen with her when she went back to work. She knew what her initial plan had been, but that had been while she was still pregnant, not now, with a three month old.

"She can go into day-care, or we could get a nanny." She knew Jon wasn't fond of the idea of a nanny. She knew that he had spent a lot of times with his nanny when he was a child, and he didn't want Serena to be the same, angry that she'd spent more time with her nanny than her parents. Jonathan had always adored his father, but even now he had problems with his mother.

"A nanny?" There was that hint of anger simmering beneath his tone. That was exactly the problem that he was having. He hated, truly hated, that he'd spent so much time with them. She didn't really care about it either way, but she'd been raised by two parents who were always at home for her, though she still managed to have problems with her mother. It wasn't only people brought up with nannies who had fucked up families. She knew that Jon was slowly learning that, but it was slow.

"Only for during the day, when we're both at work." She defended, but even she had to admit that hiring a nanny wasn't her preferred option, for exactly the reason that she was raised by her friends. "Tosh is at day-care though, Bunny would be happy there. I'd prefer her to go there." She was absolutely certain that Serena would be happy in day care, especially since Toshiko was already there.

"She's two months old, Rike." Jon commented with a laugh. Erika couldn't help but join in the laughter, squeezing his hand back. It didn't matter that the baby was still so young. With the time before she was actually going back to work, and the time where they could get Serena happy somewhere.

"We have a month to decide this too." She wasn't really going to rush the decision, but she was sure that that it would make it easier to adjust to the earlier they made it.

Jon nodded, because he had to know that Serena was happy, and that she was comfortable too. "We do." He smiled, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly. "Have you spoken to Veronica the last couple of days?" That was a question, and one that she hadn't heard from Veronica since Friday when she'd fallen asleep. They'd already made plans.

"No, I haven't." She smiled, and looked at him seriously. The plan they'd made was far more physical for this evening than the last Friday. She needed to start getting back into shape properly, rather than just like she was now. If she was going back to work, then she would need to be doing a lot more exercise. "She's been busy training, I said I'd see her Friday and we could go to the gym on 18th."

"The one round the corner, where we went climbing after the Expanse?" Jon asked, which reminded her that they had had a lot of history everywhere around the local area, and that was when she remembered that things were important in these situation.

"When we were still pretending we weren't in a relationship? Yeah." That was pretty much everything that had happened between the Expanse and right up until Jon's following mission. Now they were happy.

"I'm glad you and her are planning to see each other." It was obvious that Jon really did care that they were planning to see each other, she knew he'd been worried, it had been obvious to her that he'd been worried, but that didn't stop him from being happy about it at the same time. Clearly something had changed in Jon's mind too. "Does this mean that you're letting her back in?"

"I missed her, Jonathan. A lot. More than I thought I did." She had really wanted to know about her, and what she'd done. Especially given that almost 5 years had passed. She thought she'd dealt with it all, but it clearly wasn't as dealt with as she'd assumed. "Maybe because I'd dealt with her death over the last few years, dealt with the idea that I may never see her again. It meant that when I say her I completely shut down, didn't want to deal with it."

"I didn't want to deal with it either, but I knew I needed to." She had, somewhat, left Jon alone with the initial dealing with it, he had seemed to do it all easily. Which had actually managed to make it easier on them all. "So I did, and I pushed you into dealing with it, because it was the right thing to do."

"Was it, really?"

"It got the two of you talking again, didn't it?" He asked, poking her gently in the side.

"OK I'll give you that. I'm glad she's back too, because while I wasn't working I was beginning to feel more and more isolated." That hurt to admit, because she hated admitting that everything at home hadn't been easy enough for her. "Maybe during the day I still won't have much to do, but I'll have a social life again."

Jon looked around and smirked, clearly about to tease her for something else. It didn't entirely surprise her that this was where his teasing was leading. "You don't have a social life right now." He eventually commented, then laughed loudly.

"OK, you have a point, you know what I mean though." He was being stubborn on purpose, she knew that.

"You're right, yes I do. I just really like teasing you." He smirked, then kissed her cheek, holding onto her hand tightly, still with one arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"I'm glad that you're enjoying it, Jonathan." She was glad that he was happy teasing her. It had always been a part of their friendship, their relationship. Teasing one another was the one thing that had never changed. "Thank you, for pushing me."

"Of course, now, let's get some grub. Because I'm hungry." He gave her another squeeze, then took her hand and pulled her through the doorway. It was hard for her to admit that Jon had done the right thing in pushing her toward learning about Veronica. While it had definitely been harder than she would have thought to let her back in, it was easy enough now to have figured it all out, and to have decided that seeing Veronica again was the best things. It was going to be a change, but a welcome one she hoped.


End file.
